Paradise - After
Givoanni di Paolo

Paradise is a grove

Where flower and fruit tree

Form oval petals and pears

And apples only fair . . .

Among these saunter saints

Who uphold one another

In sacred conversations

Shaping hands that come close

As the lilies at their knees

While seraphim burn

With the moment's breeze

Samuel Menashe

From The Niche Narrows: New
and Selected Poems, Talisman
House, Publishers, © 2000.
Reprinted by permission of the
author.