The Seeds of Eden
for Maria and Douglas

The earth is dry. The brooks are threads, the branches crack and fall, Songbirds are silent, deer tremble with thirst The wind soughs faintly through the stiff dead grass And hopes of freshness fail. But deep within The seeds of Eden live, and wait . . . . And in your eyes, Beloved, that gaze in mine I find a glimmer of the fadeless green, I see the dew eternal, the imprisoned Light. Deep joy wells up within me, overfloods To join your heart's cascading, spreading joy. I give my hand, I take your hand in pledge: Within the center of our melded lives To clear the ground of thorns and thistles all That Paradise may sprout and bud anew.

Our hands shall till and keep the burgeoning life; The birds will trill amid the blossoming trees, The apples of our garden will refresh Our neighbors as ourselves; the ragged stray Will find a tasty dish beside our door, The homeless pilgrim rest beside our fire. The Child of Galilee, whose healing hand Draws death forever from the adder's fangs, Make lion graze in grass beside the ox, And wolf and lamb lie down in warm embrace, Shall lead us all.

—1992