The Branches Had Me

I woke up in the middle of the trees

All whacked out and intense

The temperature was minus ten

I looked at the stars

There weren’t any

Black, white, light reflected thence

I studied the pictures

Written in the bark

And the space between the trees

Where the owls howl

I stood there for a while

Nothing flashed before my eyes

Nothing passed through my head

The only thoughts that were there

Were the ones that I did bring

In the cold naked wilderness

Where the beauty is most extreme

Nothing new exists

No enlightenment

Each man shall bring his bliss