Prelude to darkness...

My town at dusk.
Photo courtesy of Jim Measel.

Last night I came out of City Hall and was greeted with this view of the monument. There is something so stark and lovely about a winter's evening...

There were a few cars still going home, but for the most part, town was empty as we anticipated another round of snow. The Snow Moon was not visible but I could imagine it rising over the houses in my town.

As I contemplated the beauty of the town, I was thinking about a story my dad once told me. He and my mom were just 16 and walking home under the street lamps in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The snow was gently falling and he looked at my mom and thought to himself, "I am going to marry this girl." And indeed he did. It is nice to think of him under the street lamps of my town.

As I often do, I thought of poetry and so here is Prelude from T.S. Elliot. There are several verses, but I just chose the first one.

I

The winter evening settles down

With smell of steaks in passageways.

Six o’clock.

The burnt-out ends of smoky days.

And now a gusty shower wraps

The grimy scraps

Of withered leaves about your feet

And newspapers from vacant lots;

The showers beat

On broken blinds and chimney-pots,

And at the corner of the street

A lonely cab-horse steams and stamps.

And then the lighting of the lamps.

Prelude by T.S. Eliot