Labyrinthine

Trapped in a sinuous labyrinth, I run down twisting corridors of well-trodden soil, flanked on each side by bushes twice my height! I go left; I go right; turning left again, I hit a wall. For hours I have been inside here running. Panic is swallowing my soul, for I am horribly horribly lost. Overcome by my anxiety, I let myself collapse to the dirt floor where I sit trying to compose myself, and as I sit, I struggle with the puzzle - how to escape this huge web with tentacles like those of of a giant green monster of the sea. How will I ever find my way out of this impossible maze? Afternoon’s glare barely reaches me where I sit in the gloom of my doom. Suddenly, the sound of happy voices! And not just within earshot. This sound is SO close that were I to just reach out through one of these large bushes, I am sure I could actually embrace the sweetness of the joy I hear. I have been left and right and all around. these long paths, and I refuse again to go down them. Grateful to be wearing my long pants and a long-sleeved shirt, I remove a polyester jacket which I have had wrapped around my waist. With the jacket, I cover as much of my body as I can, particularly my face and hands. The lovely garden which I had viewed from the road when I first came upon this miserable maze is right on the other side of the bush where I have ended up. I know it; I just know it . . . I take the plunge! June 27, 2020 for Dear Heart's 'Maze - 10 Word Challenge' Contest Submitted Sept. 14, 2021 for the ''L'' Contest New Or Old Poetry Contest Sponsor: Constance La France