'there was the cove and the smooth shallow water...'

From Chaim Potok's The Promise:

There was the cove and the smooth shallow water with the tall trees of the shoreline breaking the force of the wind and Michael lying on his back reading the clouds. There was the cove and the birds high overhead and the clouds white against the deep blue of the sky and the whisper of the wind through the trees, a loud whisper that was a roller coaster roar, and the sensation of dropping into the night.

"We are at war, friend. Didn't you know we are at war?"

Danny said nothing.

"The enemy surrounds us. The evil forces of secularism are everywhere. Look under the bed before you say the Kriat Shma at night. Look under the bed before you pray the Shacharit Service in the morning. And while you're at it check the books on your desk and look in the typewriter and close the window because they come in with the wind. Did you know they come in with the wind?"

"All right," Danny said quietly.

"The hell it's all right. We become like dead branches and last year's leaves and what the hell good are we for ourselves and for the world in a mental ghetto. The hell it's all right."

Danny said nothing. There was a tense silence.

"I'll survive," I said.

He was quiet.

"If I can have another cup of coffee."

He smiled then and got slowly to his feet.

"One derives great moral strength from a cup of coffee," I said.

"Kosher coffee," Danny said.

"Yes, of course. Kosher coffee. Of course."

We talked over the third cup of coffee, about ourselves, about the past, and there was silence and more talk and silence again and more talk. That was the best cup of all, that third cup of coffee. It took us a very long time to drink it.

Then I was putting on my coat and hat and we were standing at the door.