The Perfect Paragraph

I just finished reading Coal Black Horse by Robert Olmstead. It is a brutal story of a teenaged boy searching for his soldier father during the Civil War. Robey's main companion during his journey is the smart, sturdy animal for which the book is named.

Olmstead's writing is powerful and poetic. Because his words are so fresh in my mind, it may be that I am overstating his talent when I say he has written the perfect paragraph. In any case, the possibility in itself is a testament to how masterful a storyteller Olmstead is.

Here it is (from page 156):

He gentled the coal black horse and then he lay down on the warm ground with his head on his father's shoulder. He felt his father's arm lift and his fingers fumbling until he hooked them to his belt. He lay quietly with his arm across his father's chest and his father's arm holding him. He felt the rise and fall of his father's breathing and he wished that sleep would overtake him and painlessly carry him from that place. He knew now that when he left, his father would remain.

This tender description of a boy who has found his father after both have experienced the horrors of war is the best of the few gentle moments to be found inside a heartbreaking story. I will read it again and again.