Lost

I got lost (again!) hiking near Gethsemane Monastery.

Lost
I took one turn too many
Clambering up a hill of sinister steepness,
Slipping down rain-washed valleys
And chattering slate waterways,
Until my world was lost in shade
And still another hill
And another valley
And another curve swept me away,
Doe stamping her indignation
At the intrusion,
Vultures circling overhead;
My feet walked on and on,
Bloom and mold mingling
With scent of fear-
No landmark,
No distant chime
To guide me home.
I sent heavenward a silent plea
And climbed yet another rise,
Swooping ‘round yet another bend,
Watching threatening clouds
Send hissing scouts through leaf and limb.
Still another bend and
What’s this?
Hope flashes in thudding heart-
Stone arrow points.
And further on
Carefully placed sticks point the way.
I follow,
Pace quickening
As weary feet tread rock and mud,
Amid butterfly parade
And dragonfly escort,
And a last climb and descent
‘Til woods open to windswept fields
Familiar at last;
Welcome sight,
Roof and rest
Found.