Hard Believing

This old man
he lay down on a couch
overnight invite to
sunrise, & service &
it had been three months
since he’d read it,
& he lay down & he’d not
prayed since a small boy,
& in his mind’s voice he got out,
“Jesus,”
& an unearthly scream came out
his head & he
slept a sound sleep,
& woke refreshed
twenty days later having
listened to Father Louis &
how Dr. Williams actually preached
in Paterson,  he
remembered, this night
& John’s Gospel & then
reading, Psalm 22
he said yes, while the
’62 Chevy II
rolled across the bridge
on Antelope Creek, & he
canceled the Buddhist retreat & its
hard believing
39 years
& 24 rejecting
Church & state this old man
is gone