Walking in Paradise (for Ted)

Paradise --
You had no name for it
but could see it in soft yellow petals
you knew as Flora Maxima.

You doubted it could be,
but recognized something of it
in dew drop studded webs shimmering in the light --
beaded beauty indifferent to death's ways.
You wondered at the mystery,
mystified.

And then, your gleaming eyes--
like the zircon crystals you collected,
shining in the grey gneiss,
defiant of their earthly hold--
joined the child's excitement
for the object so reverently held.

All around and inside, abounding life moved,
irrepressibly pulsing through your veins,
pushing yet more wonder from your heart.
Beauty irresistibly revealed through your eyes,
and shared in joy.

This was your Alleluia
and Praise the Lord!

You,
always embodied by a faith you couldn’t name,
sharing something of the mystical
through those gleaming eyes.