Searching the Night

I was nearly back to where I began
A turned down page my only clue

Maybe you’re looking in the wrong direction
She said

I didn’t know what I was looking for

The neighbor
Normally in ragged clothes
Beer in hand; cigarette dangling from her lips
Walked out in white
Hair and makeup done
She looked happy

A glimmer of hope

Sprinklers arched water across the field
It was the sound of a thousand feet marching
A tourist in a pith helmet
Studied a map in the shade

Still I searched

There are no answers
In the middle of a town square
Under a hot sun
In a village from my past