his voice

He was just

A voice

At first

Deep

Dulcet

Evocative

Re-assuring

Polished

When he said

Hey partner

I’d go

Weak-kneed

And stutter

Like a school kid

And

The image of him

In my head

Was all that

The voice

Promised

Even now

The promise

Of that voice is

All I miss

And when I met him

My first impression

Belied what

I carried

In my head

And for days after

When I was assailed by doubt

That voice

Would quell the uprising

In my heart

And I held

On to its promise

In the face of

Piling evidence

To the contrary

Until one day I woke up

To the realization

Voice does not

Maketh a man