The Night My Heart Stopped

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The night my heart stopped, I was sleeping with my wife in a tent at the edge of a wood
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The earth spun and spun. Silent, in a cold sweat, I felt myself going under
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I crawled out of the tent, careful not to wake my wife, and onto a chaise lounge
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Under the spinning stars, my heart started and stopped, started and stopped, started
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I lay where a path emerged from the wood, and along the path came a large raccoon
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He walked over to me and raised himself up not four feet from my eyes
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We stared at each other with focused understanding, words without words, eyes beyond eyes, a giving
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and a taking that stilled my raucous heart. Satisfied, he lowered himself to the ground and turned toward the wood
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Thank you, brother, I said. Thank you. But he was gone, slipped back into darkness

The Night My Heart Stopped

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The Night My Heart Stopped

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