Robert M. Simmons  

from Tracings (Poems 1964-1992)

                Streetlights

When we were boys

playing touch football in the road

or basketball with a net

nailed to a telephone pole,

the precise moment

when day turned to night

was fixed

by the sudden flare of streetlights.

The crisp air reeked of sulphur

from coal furnaces,

and the contestants wore

pleated corduroys

pulled in tightly at the waist,

plaid flannel shirts,

and scuffed leather shoes.

Each evening

a special honor was earned

by the boy who shouted,

"First one to see the lights go on,"

before his comrades.

Streetlights then

were incandescent bulbs

which spread a warm orange glow

over dark nights;

they had corrugated steel shades,

enameled white on the bottom

for reflection

and green on top,

and were attached to black iron arms

which hung from wooden poles.

Many evenings I was the first

to see the lights go on,

and their luster survives

through the distance of time

and the darkness which each day brings.

                      © 2003 by Robert M. Simmons

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Subjects: poems about, streetlights, time, change, reminiscence, Providence, RI, poetry, poems

Streetlights