This was long and unwieldy, but it may still need a cutting. Trying to write this on two levels.
On the Edge of a National Forest
The hour was late. A weighty woman
knocked at locked church doors.
Nervous and chatty, she told the man
keeping a hand on the vacuum about
being dead tired and lost. A shadowy
figure stayed inside the car.
According to the chirpy one,
they had followed a pretty road
outlined by tall pines.
Now, fifteen miles deep in the forest,
they realized the sun, almost spent,
would soon go out. No map, no moon,
and no desire to go back over
the same curvy, mountainous road
in unbidden darkness.
A lull, a hallowed moment.
In the land of whispering trees,
she asked for help. He handed her
a hand-drawn map and gave her
a blessing.
This is a miracle, she said, but
I’m not sure when it happened.
On the Edge of a National Forest
The hour was late. A weighty woman
knocked at locked church doors.
Nervous and chatty, she told the man
keeping a hand on the vacuum about
being dead tired and lost. A shadowy
figure stayed inside the car.
According to the chirpy one,
they had followed a pretty road
outlined by tall pines.
Now, fifteen miles deep in the forest,
they realized the sun, almost spent,
would soon go out. No map, no moon,
and no desire to go back over
the same curvy, mountainous road
in unbidden darkness.
A lull, a hallowed moment.
In the land of whispering trees,
she asked for help. He handed her
a hand-drawn map and gave her
a blessing.
This is a miracle, she said, but
I’m not sure when it happened.