New Jersey Pine Barrens

Few things inspire a desire
To be in nature
Like a morning in a church.

As a born-again Christian
Teenager who sought out God,
I concentrated on prayer
And on the Bible’s verses

While enduring the sermons
Neither edifying nor
Remotely entertaining,

But increasingly I stole
From the nave into the woods,
The scruffy scrub woods to pray,
And found God couldn’t follow.