And now for something completely different

The arrow

Wounded, he'd have
been lost in the forest
had he not followed the arrow.

More than half
of it
protruded from his chest
and showed him the way.

The arrow
Had struck him in the back
And pierced his body
Its bloody tip
was a signpost

What a blessing
to have it point
at path
between the trees

Now he knew
he'd never again
go wrong

and he
wasn't far
from the mark.

Mark Sorescu
(translated from Romanian by
John Hartley Williams and Hilde Ottschofski