Minding my own business
Skipping along so merrily
Enjoying the moment until
Bam!
I hit a tree
Savage and brutal
Uncouth and unliked
F that tree
Going out of its way
To knock the wind out of me
Like juice in my veins
Like powder up my nose
That tree came out of nowhere
More of a thistle than a rose
Sentimental as I am
Nature-loving as I feel
It makes no sense to me
Why that tree
Couldn’t make a deal
Stop me in my tracks
Knock me to the ground
Sending me to Nirvana
Where I’ll never be found
Luckily I came back soon
Shook my head and then went my way
Like the spiders on the outhouse walls
Damn universe woke me up
Had its say
I’ll never again have the chance
To get tree-smacked mid-trail
If you do, you’ll see it sometime
In a compilation of epic fails
~ Gunnar Våken
The Warrior Awakes: The Poetry of Gunnar Våken 