"I believe because it is

absurd", he said with what I imagine to be a voice

filled with granite

and founded on the fiery core of the earth itself and yet

tinged

with just the beginning of tears rising to

his eyes, the depth of his own assurance

making him solid and yet dissolving him

at the same time.

I look at his fervent affirmation and I feel

just the beginning of my own welling up

(but never more than that)

and then I'm afraid of him again.