Paradise Lost

I watched the taste of Shangri-La
bring strong men to their knees
and felt the wasting warm grow thick
like sylphs among the trees.
A languid poison, rich and sweet
filled each and every glass
it kissed their lips with want and left
its bruise upon the grass.

It moved like lovers, so wanton soft
in heavy, tangled sighs
and held them willing prisoners
betrayed with whispered lies.
Desire, like a living thing
crept forth to steal their breath;
it stilled the blood within their veins
in shadowed blooms of death.

They slipped into a coil of dreams,
pale visions brushing skin
that plucked the hearts from in their chests
and broke them from within.
And now, deep lost in lethargy,
they wait with stricken sighs,
to know their world has now become
the ruin of paradise...