Paradise Lost

An ocean of Scilla sways
a cerulean campanology,
peppery scent lifted and
carried on a whisper that drifts
through this broadleaf Sylvan setting.
Shafts of golden sunlight
break through the umbrella canopy;
a glowing stairway sent down
from the heavens above,
warming the moss covered earth,
soft and yielding beneath your feet.
Small rustlings,
heard, but not seen,
and the joyful trill of birds
the only sounds in the hush
of this ethereal Elysium.

Suddenly the birds rise as one
in fearful flapping confusion
as the peace is shattered
by a discordant sound.
A rhythmic buzzing,
like an angry bumblebee trapped
on the wrong side of the glass.
Your world is slipping away.
You reach out to try and catch it,
but it slips from your fingers,
and is gone...
You shiver in the chill.