The Pearls That Were His Eyes

He took off his sunglasses to expose eyes blank as glossed bones in the desert and I drew on all my willpower to not recoil as he leaned in close to rasp:
"They say never to stare at the sun, kid, but I didn't listen."
And I forgave him his anger, because the slight tremor in his rough voice and the trembling flesh of his ruined eyes told me that what he had seen was more beautiful than he could ever explain to someone like me, someone who always listened.