Now I know men have been accused of being stubborn

For failing to ask for directions while driving

When you’re lost on the road you feel like a toad

And the last thing you need is conniving

I honestly know how to read a road map

Where I fail is not memorizing the route

If I don’t write it down about halfway through town

I make a wrong turn and a U-turn to boot

In most metro areas they have Thomas Guides

They are local maps that are bound in a book

In rural Missouri they have the Atlas & Gazetteer

Which pretty much fills the same nook

So yesterday we decided to travel

To the spot a half mile across the lake

From our house located in Coolwater Cove.

Some mirror image pictures to take

The map was quite clear and I left without fear

Though I actually scribed the direction

As the landmarks checked off and nobody scoffed

I was sure I had avoided insurrection

We made the last turn into the forest

The sign confirmed that we were correct

But the road soon looked like a scene from “Deliverance”

And the passengers began to object

At the end of the “road” we no longer dared

To traverse in a car we were renting

Our journey cut short with no photos to report

This poem has to end with my lamenting

Copyright 2009 Patrick A Granfors