Ellie

“Hallelujah!”
she caws
at this Starbuck’s
in downtown White Plains

on her wrist
a bracelet
with the word “hope”
engraved

“Lion of Judah!”

she shows her ring
to the young army officer
who is fixing his coffee
at the counter

“What is this?” she demands of him

“It’s a peace sign,” the soldier smiles
no one can resist
the coyote spirit
of an old Christian woman

“I saw him in person!”
she confides to me

“Who?” I ask
somehow knowing
full well

“Yeshua!”

and I,
a spare part
in the day
to which Ellie
is the main fixture,
believe her