i awoke to sounds of children playing outside my window so snug and warm i didn’t want to move another day is paradise even if i wasn’t aware of it i adjusted the king size pillows beneath my head and just relaxed awhile i finally and slowly evolved from the massive heap of blankets that made my nights sleep a good one i trudged across my carpeted floor into my very own shower and let the soothing hot water immoderately hit me and wash down the drain i stepped out of the shower lotioning my body determined to get every inch of skin and on went my cotton bathrobe so soft and comfortable another day in paradise even is i wasn’t aware if it.
i walked out onto the porch like a black widow’s intricate web the sunlight weaved its way through the leaves of the trees the birds were greeting the new day with song water from the sprinklers danced with the sun making rainbows across the lawn another day in paradise even is i wasn’t aware if it.
i went back inside whistling what the birds had just taught me i stretched across the sofa and got comfortable i was in my own apartment free from harm free from need secure but surrounded by want thoughts of how fortunate i am did not enter my mind i mused over what could make me happier there was no end to these musings at every pinnacle appeared not a need but a want satisfaction fulfillment contentment those were not words in my vocabulary and at that moment and for as long as i had lived breathed walked and talked i lived a life on a bed of roses not appropriately smelling the delight in its aroma only focusing on its thorns life’s growing pains another day in paradise even is i wasn’t aware if it.
i clicked on the t.v. remote of course you could be ten pounds thinner in only two weeks click buy now and save oh what a feeling click guaranteed a clearer complexion in click another day in paradise even is i wasn’t aware if it click click click and that’s when i saw you i saw you see me i saw me in you your eyes hit me hit me deep my heart ached the remote dropped tears flooded my eyes i could not see but your image was still before me captured in my mind questions flooded my brain another day in paradise how could this be me in my world you in yours it just didn’t fit how could this be me safe and sound you in danger and dying how could this be how could this be.
my comfort made me uncomfortable the softness of the sofa beneath my body the harshness of the dry land beneath your tired feet how could this be the warmth of my bathrobe fitting my freshly showered and lotioned skin the ache of your body needing what i have taken for granted how could this be the beautiful sounds of children at plat the neighborhood birds chirping giving beat to the mechanically moving sprinklers in my world the continuous horrendous sound of life leaving too many bodies in your world but how could this be how could this be
reality – yours should be no ones mine should not exist as long s your is so foul another day in paradise how could i not have realized…
Eaves 1995
