Today I will return
To the mountain trail

There is an element of mystery there
I wonder who I will meet along the trail

Last time I met Mark
A 32 year old

He asked me if I needed any water
And offered me some beef jerky

He was from Los Angeles
Working at a Target
Couldn't afford to finish college

A bit overweight
Raised as a Christian scientist
But not particularly religious it sounded liked

We talked about the beauty of nature
And I mentioned Buddhism and Daoism

We talked about our love for hiking
Peace be with you Mark

And yesterday evening
I heard the familiar jingling of the bells

I had heard them on a previous night
She said the most kind hello
I think I have ever heard
Bless her
What a pretty woman

Maybe next time I will chat with her for a bit

Yesterday evening I watched the sunset
On my rock chair I sat

Alone as usual

I made my way back down
With only my Iphone light

I heard the rattlesnake
On the trail
So loud, it startled me

I went back up
Not wanting to continue down
I waited for my fellow hikers
Who had LED lights

I warned them of the rattler
And they said they saw it coming on the way up
And so I made my way down with them

She was such a gorgeous ***** brunette
But women always ignore me
I'm used to it

As I finished the trail
A car was parked at the bottom
In a wide open area

A couple chatting in their car

I made my way back down to Sierra Madre

I had walked to the trail
When you are as poor as me
You have to save gas

And I walked through the town
I heard the familiar cry of the baby
And the woman sitting on her front porch

Always on the outside
Looking into homes
They are not like me
They are not alone like me

A woman with her child in the living room
Sierra Madre is a quaint mountain town

Stumbling around with my hiking poles
Tired
One leg a bit longer than the other
One hip a bit higher than the other

I don't know why
I don't care
Just a body
An earth body
Connected to the earth

It's all pointless
Meaningless
Absurd
I say out loud
As I bang my hiking sticks together

And I am forever walking
Forever searching
For something I cannot find

And I keep on feeling nothing
And it leads to nothing
And I'm always tired
And I don't know why
And I just don't care

And I keep on walking
It's just another day
Like all the other days

Read some sign

"Investing in our future"
Some new pipes being put in on our streets

I said out loud there is no future
No future for America