Through The Trees

misunderstood and disillusioned

i go on describing this place

and the way it feels to live and die

the natural world and whatever else it's called

i drive in and out of town

seeing no edge, breathing sky

and it's hard to describe

without seeming absurd

i know no there's no other world

mountains and websites

dark smoke fills the air

some from the fire in my house

some from me driving around

i could see the lights of town

through the trees on the ridge

on my way home in the dark

i meant all my songs not as a picture of the woods

but just to remind myself

that i briefly live

the gleaming stone of the moon in the sky at noon

there is no other world

and there has never been

i still walk living sleeping

life in the real world of clouds

clawing for meaning

still when i see branches in the wind

the tumultuous place where i live

calls out, revealing

can you see the river in the branches

and know that it means you will die

and that peace is returning?

can you find a wildness in your body

and walk through the store after work

holding it high?

i've held aloft some delusions

from now on i will be perfectly clear

there's no part of the world more meaningful

and raw impermanence echoes in the sky

there is neither knowing

a constant sound in your ears

end and beginning

a pile of brush

the fog on the hill

standing in the parking lot, squinting