Over Coffee with Jason

I found you in a grim gathering
where embers glowed warm
just beneath the tender crust
of honest orthodoxy.

You and I were searching for
and hoping for and praying
for the pearl among the pebbles--
for the ‘closer than’ of the Proverbs.

I saw in you a Jonathan
putting Philistines to flight
but unwilling to put self forward
even at a mad king’s bidding.

You saw in me a Promised
version I could never see of myself
who spent my desperate decades
stooping in caves and dodging spears.

You knew that I had been despised
by far more likely siblings, but
we take the time for those left behind
and we tried each other on for size.

So I prize a friend and a brother
who sharpens and stands guard for me
over early Friday steaming cups
of generous, fragrant joy.