<html aria-label="message body"><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space; font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Behold!</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">is what the young lanky waiter at the cheeky </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Denver trattoria said when he delivered our </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">waters, all with the insisting command of it. </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">And then again when he brought the bread </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">– Behold! Bread. Like he were a minstrel </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">summoned by the high court, or a magician </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">busking the streets of 1800s Italy, or a God </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">proclaiming awe for the granted provisions. </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Behold! the bruschetta on a long rectangular </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">plate, the brussels sprouts swimming in way </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">too much balsamic. We chuckled each time, </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">mouthing behold behold! The Clint Eastwood </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">poster on the way to the bathroom, the paper </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">menu he said we could take home if we wanted. </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Behold! the arrival of check, the magic of plastic</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">card, digital money, the trust of a scribble as </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">signature for the tip. Behold! his joy, our delight </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">each time he said it, the way we kept saying it </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">afterwards like kids playing pretend, smiling, </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">gesturing our hands towards everything in </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">sweeping proclamation - behold! behold! the car, </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">the street light, the concert. Waking up in the </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">morning to the rising sun saying behold! a new </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">day, behold! you, me, behold! all of this, the earth,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">our life.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">- Moudi Sbeity</span></div></body></html>