Ian Willey

When I Was Lost

Having missed the entrance to the turnpike I stopped at a roadside diner,
the kind that serve eggs all day and the waitresses are named Edna,

and when I asked the waitress for directions (her name was Edna, as I said)
she smiled and said honey lots of people come in asking the same thing

the sign for the turnpike gets lost in the shadows late in the day,
but don’t you worry, it’s about two miles back on the left,

and now that I told you, there’s no way you’ll miss it again,
and here, have some coffee on the house, you look like you could use it,

and what’s more, this is really the thing, as I thanked her and headed out
she said that she’d be praying for me.

Ian Willey is a teacher who spends a lot of time writing things.