I saw the same young woman

twice in walking boots

hefting a backpack

as if on some wilderness hike

but she was in the suburbs

with map and compass

two days running I noticed her

she didn't look at me

and seemed in no distress

her stride was purposeful

an anthropologist perhaps

in search of other lives

the better to recognise her own.

I wondered where she'd camp

and if from behind shy walls

of brick veneer she might coax

someone to share her food and fire.

The sight of her solitary plod

made me think how easy

it is to lose direction and

once lost how hard to find

a way back home.