paradise
by Teresa Williams
Photo by Sarah Anne Childers
paradise
is the moment
you realize
you've never been
apart from it
it is the bookstore
on Tuesdays scent of scones
and word blossoms
it is the dahlia autumn lantern
the warm mug in your hand
it is all this exchanging
of light hello and goodbye and
how are you
it is the decision you make
to let it all in
the rainbows the dead crow
the hurt knee
a black cloud in the face
your incapacities your strengths
hurricanes and earthquakes
even deep down pain
the kind that wants to hide
behind hate
when
everything belongs
paradise
isn't somewhere else
it is here
it is us
it is loving
Life itself.
A poet, translator, and psychotherapist, Teresa Williams loves the way inner and outer landscapes come together with the bridge of beautiful language. Her poetry has been featured in: Psychological Perspectives Journal, Buddhist Poetry Review, Vine Leaves Literary Journal, and A Hundred Gourds. She has a chapbook of translated poems, Tailor Shop: Threads by the Uruguayan poet, Laura Cesarco Eglin, Finishing Line Press.