My name is Alexander Crofts (or Zander), and I’m a first-year English and Creative writing student at the University of Exeter. I enjoy writing poetry and prose alike, usually just as something enjoyable, and not seriously. However, I’d like to change that, and become an established writer. The piece you are about to read, inspired by ‘Eden Rock’, explores another, darker view of what paradise is, and the idea that even a place within memory or dream, isn’t as boundless as other writers describe. For Causley, ‘Eden Rock’ was a world built from the clash of childhood memories, death and his idea of paradise. For me, paradise, isn’t quite what it seems…

Far beyond the reach of my sight,
Past rocky valleys and sheer darkness
Is a place brimming with light.

Its name I cannot pronounce,
The soft
And delicate phonology.

It beckons to me,
Like the empty ocean.
Dive in, and relish the infinite depth
For nothing will harm you.
Not here.

How could I not want to live a simple life?
Where birdsong unravels in euphoric virtuoso,
Where nights are alight
With suspended cosmos.

Where owls hoot against captured time,
Where distant church bells kell,
Not chime.

Three suns blaze a forever winter,
And white cloths are no picnic.
Spotlights to empty theatres,
Illuminating a performing act of divinity.
A Crowning by laurel wreaths
Ensnaring their eyes.

Far beyond the world of memory
or fame,
And I remember its name.

Paralyse. No.

Paradise?

The views expressed in submissions to The Maker are those of the authors and, therefore, the Charles Causley Trust is not responsible for these views or statements. The Charles Causley Trust does not own the texts published on The Maker. Each piece is submitted voluntarily by writers who wish to informally publish their creative work through The Charles Causley Trust. Each submission is subject to edits and amendments by the editors of the online literary blog which will then be negotiated with the author before approval and upload to the website.