Strong Coffee

AMONG THE MULTITUDE Among the men and women the multitude, I perceive one picking me out by secret and divine signs, Acknowledging none else, not parent, wife, husband, brother, child, any nearer than I am, Some are baffled, but that one is not--that one knows me. Ah lover and perfect equal,    I meant that you should discover me so by faint indirections,        And I when I meet you mean to discover you by the like in you.                                            -Walt Whitman A seeking sinner...A seeking Savior. The twain will surely meet He entered the back of the chapel seeking counsel. He was uncertain of the reason he stopped by here...now...today. He was driven by hunger. Hunger for something ...

Words failing...fawning about...grasping at syllables. Pointing to his head... his heart. Hoping in some magical way I understood his internal war. A heavy heart buckles under the torrent of tears. At last an audible sentence that clarifies his struggle. "I've seen things. It keeps me awake." Sleep was a stranger to him. Rest was replaced with a dread of ghostly images. Fear had looted his soul. The weight of exhaustion was heavy on his eyes. "It was an IED. It killed the lieutenant outright. My buddy behind me lost his eye. I got shrapnel in my shoulder and stomach. It should have been me that died." Regret...sorrow...loathing...the sum of his fears. Emotions were wild and unpredictable. The uncertainty of each moment was evident in his composure. Compassion mixed with sympathy gave me the urge to embrace him, to grasp him like a mighty oak if only for a moment...to give him a sense of anchor. We sat for long periods of silence. In short word...

Strong Coffee: ...Nor Shifted Sphere Confuse Thy Brain : Words failing...fawning about...grasping at syllables. Pointing to his head... his heart. Hoping in some magical way I understood his ...