Heaven On Earth

In Hereford Cathedral, hangs the Mappa Mundi.
Seven hundred years since ink bled from vellum
to give continents, warped
like tattoos collapsing on old men.

Its world is bound by wonders.
The Golden Fleece shimmers in the north,
like sunlight off the Avoz Sea,
while the south congeals, thick
with monstrosities.
England guards the west,
protection from an endless ocean.
Jerusalem holds the centre.

Paradise is to the east.
The Mappa Mundi tells me to walk the breadth of Europe,
to fight through holy lands,
and cross seas as slim as rivers.
It tells me Heaven is here on Earth,
that it never left me,
even though I buried it with you,
last spring.