visionaries

I get out of my car
and clutch my keys
in my cold fingers like
a security blanket

a man walks up to me
he tells me he is secretly John the apostle
that his name means "Friend of God"
that Christ will save the parking lot
we stand in
I nod

he has been walking for days and
he has seen many things:
a city worker eating
dirt
dogs barking
his own breath

I nod
as he tells me he was there
when Christ was born

as I leave, I tell him,
"God be with you."
I mean it, even though I'm mostly
an athiest
he responds, "He's already everywhere."

and for the first time
I believe in something
bigger than
a parking lot