Visions of Louis

              Visions of Louis

Mack walked down the empty street 

beneath streetlights casting a yellow pale, 

which about described his mood too. 

No, he was not one bit happy about coming 

to this certain reckoning with Jake, 

who had been given fair warning. 

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Mack, 

Maggie was waiting for him with Jake. 

Half-way down the long two blocks, 

Mack began shaking his head from side to side, 

as if trying to shoo the flies 

away. He could not believe what he 

thought he saw as he heard himself 

call out, “Louis what are you doing

here brother?” Was he real? 

Louis’s words from his last preach 

filled the dank air, “we all share 

a common ancestry, a holiness 

that cannot be denied.” 

Mack shook his head again. 

Nobody was there. The last thing he needed right now 

was an infernal moral crisis, 

he came here to do what he had to. 

Their shadows were coming closer 

to him now.

©Paul Goldman April 13, 2022

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