Gideon's Daredevils

The old man waded up the stream of students in a suit
looking resolved.

holding a
tiny
green book with gold lettering

When I reached for it,
I regret,
I was afraid of bursting into flames
or being struck by lightning

and I bet that would've made that old man pretty upset

that I possessed the nerve to ask for one of his
tiny
green books with gold lettering

but the leather was cold and stiff
it felt
good
in my hand

the way a normal book does.


Imagine the thought process that goes
into planning an excursion like that
A half-dozen old men sitting around at
a church decide to get into a truck

and dive.

and drive to a college town to hand out a
tiny
green book with gold lettering

As I walked away he tried to say goodbye
but all that came out was
"What are you afraid of?"