It is morning; the old man drinks coffee while thinking about a dream he had in the night, the dream, since didn't write it down is hazy and soon it will be forgotten; the old man does not write superficial love stories anymore.
The metaphysical, the abstraction of love that transcend the physical aspect, has a god-like quality in its understanding of the world as it is, and it means acceptance of others opinion even when it is a moth holed and trite one.
The old man knows he is a micro cosmos of the world he lives in, this makes him shudder because he given the right circumstances could have been the incarnation of evil, but as it is, his love of the living saved him from evil deeds.