Heaven is here and now —
drowsing in the sun
on a Sunday afternoon
in early June, a distant hum
of some machinery, the murmur of
the sea, borne on a breeze
that cools, and rustles the leaves
of my apple trees near where I sit
in this comfy chair high up
on my garage roof where I overlook
green fields that stretch
for miles and miles to where
distinctions merge in the blue and
misty shadows of some other land
beyond the far horizon.
In the sun-warmed air sleek
swallows swoop and wheel
while other birds fly to and fro
so purposeful on errands that
no man may know. A falcon glides
above the trees, two butterflies
rise high in a spiral dance
and over there shining bright
black and white against the green,
heads down, a herd of Friesian cows
lazily graze the lush grass
that grows in a field by the sea..
All this we know will pass:
other days will bring grey skies,
cold winds that bite, pain, loss, disease,
and bitter sadness, perhaps, but yet
this summer day when the sun is high
in a clear blue sky,  we can truly say,
“Heaven is here and now”.