WAITING 
by Raymond Carver 

Left off the highway and 
down the hill. At the 
bottom, hang another left. 
Keep bearing left. The road 
will make a Y. Left again. 
There's a creek on the left. 
Keep going. Just before 
the road ends, there'll be 
another road. Take it 
and no other. Otherwise, 
your life will be ruined 
forever. There's a log house 
with a shake roof, on the left. 
It's not that house. It's 
the next house, just over 
a rise. The house 
where the trees are laden with 
fruit. Where phlox, forsythia, 
and marigold grows. It's 
the house where the woman 
stands in the doorway 
wearing sun in her hair. The one 
who's been waiting 
all this time. 
The woman who loves you. 
The one who can say, 
"What's kept you?"