Without Compass

I’ve no sense of direction. My brain is compass-free—
learned no sense of direction at my mother’s knee.
She was as lost as I am to the magnetic north.
No natural sense of it guided her aimless sallyings forth.

East looks just like west to me. I could not pick out south.
All the places I have been were reached by word of mouth.
Thank God I was born female, for I have no compunction
for stopping passers by to ask where to go at each junction.

In my life decisions, I acted much the same,
often shifting focus in pursuing wealth and fame.
I’ve veered a bit from here to there since my first beginnings—
 engineering failings as well as a few winnings.

Going where the wind blows has always worked for me.
Somehow, it has landed me just where I need to be.
Perhaps for some a needle point’s not needed to decide.
The true sense of direction  is what we feel inside.

Collage and photo by jdb

The prompt today was compass.