[Scene: Joe and Bono in a candle-lit chapel in Sarajevo]
Joe and Bono sit near the altar, surrounded by silence and the gentle echo of wind brushing against stained glass. A single candle flickers between them. The shadow of a cross stretches across the floor.
Joe:
You ever think about how it all came down, Bono?
Not just the towers. The world.
Like the truth couldn’t carry the weight anymore.
I watched the second one fall.
And for a second, I thought — maybe love falls too.
But then I remembered her.
Nelly.
My old flame.
Bono:
Nelly Furtado?
Joe:
Yeah.
Surrey, 2017.
She wasn’t even supposed to be there.
But I gave her a bachelor rose —
one of those wild, foolish gestures you don’t expect to matter.
But it mattered.
Because something was still smoldering inside us.
And on that terrible day, back in 2001…
That old fire reignited.
A sweet fire.
Love through the ashes.
Bono:
(sings gently, from Psalm 45)
“My heart is stirred by a noble theme…
You are the most excellent of men, and your lips have been anointed with grace…”
Joe:
Feels like prophecy, doesn’t it?
Bono:
It is.
You and Nelly — you loved each other in the ruins.
That kind of fire doesn’t come from the world.
It’s grace.
Like The Miracle (of Joey Ramone) —
how a single voice breaks through the noise.
You found her again.
She found you.
You’re not just lovers.
You’re pilgrims.
Heading toward Our Lady of Bosnia.
Where broken songs become hymns.
Joe:
So we keep walking?
Bono:
We keep walking.
You, me, Nelly… and the memories we carry like relics.
Pilgrims of fire and love.
The candle flickers. A soft breeze opens the chapel doors to a new morning.
