a common misconception that i surmise
is that heaven can only be attained after one's demise
yet i have wandered through forests and found in disguise
that heaven exists behind ordinary eyes
it is not distant nor sealed in the skies
not hidden in chambers where eternity lies
but threaded through roots where old rivers sigh
through spirals of shells and the sunlight that dries
it lives in the pulse of Earth as it turns
in the hush of the soil where each fallen leaf burns
in the ache of the stars and the heat that they earn
in the cycle of loss where all things return
heaven is not a place that is fenced beyond pain
not a kingdom reserved for the morally plain
it moves through the wind and the scent after rain
through joy and through sorrow, through loss and through gain
for all that is Good leaves a luminous trace
a softness of spirit, a kindness, a grace
the warmth of a hand or a familiar face
small fragments of heaven in tangible space
it is the pattern beneath what we see
the hidden equation inside you and me
the code in the branches, the curve of the sea
the silence between what was and will be
and maybe the error is simple in size
we search for forever in faraway skies
while heaven sits near us in quiet disguise
inside every atom where divinity lies
for death may arrive yet does not begin
the place where the sacred has always been in
because heaven was never a prize you could win
it was breathing beside you... beneath you... within