Mr. Google has no sense of direction

 

The Nature Conservancy hiking trail, New Orleans

we decided after leaving the city

to take a nature walk. Mr. Google

said there was a trail nearby

on Irrigation Road, we followed

directions, ended up at a grey

concrete building with a dead cactus

in front. False start.

It turned out to be admin headquarters,

the trail being 6.2 miles in the opposite direction.

Mr. Google grinned wickedly. When finally

we reached our destination, our angst

at Mr. Google dissipated into fingers

of cypress and pin oak, our feet cushioned

by seasons of leaves and soft brown earth. I confess

to feeling a bit of apprehension at the quiet

with only the echoes of bird calls and soft

rustlings of creatures in the bush. Years of city

life have programmed me to be suspicious,

always watching for danger, years

of wandering the woods far behind me.

I missed the familiarity and mourned the loss.

 

***

Shared on d’Verse Poets Pub, Open Link night