PARADISE

Paradise

We wandered in the sand by the sloping, frothy ocean
Pondering naught but freedom and devotion
In the afternoon sun which resembled ancient Greece,
Only exalted beyond all comparison.
Apollo has been amassed by The Holy Church
And among the glistening, ivory colonnade
The scented winds release
A serenading perfume upon the willows and the birch
Where the dappled shadows fade
Possessing ambers, blues and jade.
We walked still further to behold Doric columns which stood
Among squares of alabaster, statues and the boundless wood,
And we kissed amid the daisies fragrant with the spring.
We heard the triumphant voices of angels sing
As you capriciously took my masculine hand,
And led me to the fields which play beneath the cloudless sky.
A breeze scattered gold upon the lakes of the land,
As we kissed once more, and fell into a sigh.
Then the night ascended with its marigold reeds,
And we wandered further into the moonlight,
Barefoot upon the dew of the meads.
There radiant winds carried your perfume,
As we walked among the colonnades of white
In harmony with every bloom
We beheld the spirit of Iris
And tasted her rainbows beneath the boughs of a cypress.
More glorious than the myths of Zeus,
Christ appeared as a soothing boon.
In that splendid, astonishing, solitary moon
He blessed our love, and leaving your tresses loose
A summery zephyr parted your mane.
We walked nude on the beach in the silver rain
Beside the massive, swelling blue brine.
We sipped each delicious, intoxicating wine
Which flowed mellifluously from the streams
Through the glistening, starry amber sands.
Then tall, ornate Corinthian towers,
Situated among the spacious bowers,
Redolently crafted by God's wonderful hands
And gilded with azure wreaths of art
Led our mind to dreams
Of a troubadour's song.
How we loved in those gardens with all our heart!
Then we fell into a symphony, languorous and long,
Of ecstatic beatitude, of a pearl-bedecked beauty
Which illuminated every orb fantastically
Until diamonds rose from the rapturous ocean
To the scarlet skies where the blossoming dawn
Fed us every scarlet potion
As we lay upon the emerald lawn
In the great, green garden, in that wondrous dawn
Which arrived yellowish and gold and ivory-white
With the sun behind it- to the sun's delight.
And your lips became delicious to behold
As they inhaled the stars and the sunlight's gold
Our passion rose like a furious fire
In that good, majestic, mighty and bold
Sun of the morning's bright desire.
And your sunlit, sable, liquid eyes
Gazed up at the blue, paradisial skies
Overwhelmed with gratitude, ecstasy and bliss
As a redolent breeze swayed the singing cypress.
We beheld The Blessed Trinity and fell into The Father's kiss.
And our spirits ascended above the wide palms
Of the wavering, emerald tree
To the golden realm of the psalms,
To the wedding feast above the sea.
And we passed through veils,
Brighter than all suns, in a radiant, blue glory
Where The virgin hails
Her Son with regal praises of an alabaster sanctity.
And at the height of heaven The Father took our hands
As His Son bound us in eternal bands
And His Spirit roved around us gleefully,
Pouring me into you
And you into me.
We behold our mansion beyond the glistening yew.
O, my lover, come with me!
Let us drink from the carafe this Kingdom's wine
In the ballroom, in the study,
In the courtyard strewn with the rose
And the glittering vine.
And when your eyes shall close,
In that tower which overlooks the shore,
In the sacred night
I shall kiss you evermore
There where you lie
In our chamber where the light
Shall nevermore die.
Come, my love, my lover, my friend,
Our happiness is our perpetual end,
The infinite our delight!  


-Excerpt From Eternal Verse By John Lars Zwerenz
(c) Copyright 2013

John Lars Zwerenz (1969- ) is an American poet and writer. He is known for his romantic, impressionistic and mystical works. He has published five books of poetry: Selected Poems, Mist And Flame, Visionary Wanderings, Sonnets of Dusk and Dawn and Songs Of Rapture And Other Poems. His fifth book, a novelette, is a controversial and steamy love story entitled "An American Romance". According to Zwerenz, the book is a "purgatorial" work of fiction. It has been published by Penguin this autumn of 2012. The volume includes an appendix and an epilogue, both of which comprise his fifth collection of verse. A new book of Zwerenz's poetry will be focused on the subject of "paradise". It is called "Eternal Verse" and will be published by a major house early in 2013. Zwerenz is a mystical romantic. His writings are deeply spiritual in subject matter and tone. Much of his verse employs transcendental language and is rich in meaning and musicality. He often makes use of classical rhyme and meter in both his poetry and prose. One literary critic compared his poetry to "the labor and results of Rembrandt". Zwerenz owns a B.A. in English from The City University Of New York At Queens College and has traveled extensively throughout The United States and Europe as a kind of "literary wanderer". He holds a rather "bohemian" reputation since his youth. He currently resides in New York City, and is 44 years of age.

R.Canter