Paradise is not a place
found on a chart.
There is no magic day
when all our troubles depart.

Future and past,
both illusions of thought.
Carried in our ever expanding luggage,
alongside other materials bought.

Now, my dear friend,
is all there really is.
Every moment a choice
To let either stagnate or fizz.

Heaven and hell
are not for another time,
nor places we may visit
having heard the final chime.

This very same moment
is our actual truth.
Our choice, our decision,
to love or remain tragically aloof.

Every moment full
of beauty and wonder.
Miss this we can
if we allow our gaze yonder.

So stay here in the now
and open your heart.
If you can’t see, keep looking!
Then, and only then,
will your journey itself restart.

(Poem from Dancing Shadows)