John 16:33
by Cate McLaughlin

I took a long walk
through Nowhere, I think, 
in the middle of Somewhere.
And when I got to God’s Diner
the sign read
“Life Served Sunny Side Up.”
And the neon flicked through the
translucent tubes of words;
Life in the vein of the night.
The waitresses were 
some kind of special—
they hid their halos behind
their big hair
and their late-night,
watery coffee kind of smiles.
And for all the delicacies 
Of the menu
Of conversation
I could not,
for the life of me,
decide between my
poetry and discretion.
But the special was 
the Savior with
a side of  Saving Grace.
My cup runneth over.
So, I had my fill
wrote the check,
then sidled out the booth.
I crowded reason 
into my rucksack,
divided my change into the tip.
I moved to make my exit
but paused in the doorway,
baptized in new moon light
the cook , garbed in
in spattered paper-white
turned and took my arm--
“Be of good cheer; 
for I have overcome the world.”