I was in God’s country, soaking in all her beauty
And I did not belong. Call it a season of madness
As I crossed your boundaries, set up camp
Drank with others who did not appreciate your power.
There was something about you
That was majestic, peaks rising,
Commandeering all within your banks.
Stars fat above me, swallowing shadows
Like the land spread within your ridges.
The spirits of old ancestors tugged at me
Speaking a language of elks and deer.
I heard only storm, rain rattling down
As I cowered in a strange place.
I would have loved you then
If I had opened my eyes.
I had yearned to escape the city,
Its hard ground that opens only for the dead,
holds on tight to the dying.
There everything was on delay,
Squirrels caught in a time loop
Birds seemingly posing mid-air.
I was the sole thing on a clock,
Chain smoking Camels
Stuttering as minutes passed by,
Refusing to dance with your trees
On land willing to give a little.
Now I realize I was in heaven
The woods a laughing god
But I was unready to accept its gift.
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