Heaven on Earth

We break from the woods
and the narrow path
onto a movie set
or a dream.
For a scene this perfect
couldn't possibly be reality, could it?

Golden ribbons from the setting sun
dance on three rippling pools
where fish are born and harvested.
Gently swaying reeds add their
hesitant whisper to the proudly
singing cicadas.

On the hill, leaning against a weathered fence-
I watch my family below.
My shoulders hunch as my children's
unfettered joy hits my heart.
A bittersweet ache,
as they giggle in the gloaming.

I saw the tail Daddy! Look!
Mommy, are you watching?!

And I am, looking, watching,
memorizing.
Caught without camera
or tattered journal-
words like dog days and halcyon hours
flit through my mind.
Desperately trying to hold onto
this moment,
save this moment,
never forget this moment.
They will never again be this young
or innocent.

Home again-
I use pixel words to
recreate the snapshot in my mind.
I write my photograph for tangible evidence
that today really happened.
Something to touch,
to hold,
to show them some day-
I was watching , I remember,
I'll always remember-
the day I glimpsed Heaven on Earth.