Twilight

The sky has dimmed,
the buildings have offered their vibrant walls
for the sleepy shades of grey
Office corners and pantry nooks
are now fading, waiting for the lights
of the evening
to give them shape again
Evening's man made lights
will be here soon
Shapes -- fade now and let the gray turn to dark
Twilight is nigh

Twilight is nigh
What have I done with my day?

My work is settled, as I would like to believe
My report is in the draft
waiting for the send button to be clicked

I remember twilight
I saw it coming
when the day was young
I knew it would come

I had seen its pictures
My grandfather showed me
Sepia photographs
Fading at the sides
And the whites from
the edges
Slowly eating
the brown and the yellow
and the pictures
of my young grandpa
have been tainted by
the spider web path
of the white's eaten trail

I remember the stories
from my uncle's college days
How the city was small
and everyone was in speaking terms
With the local DJ
He was famous
and got a free ride every time he rode
the pedicab

I remember twilight
The pictures, the stories
I smiled
The smile
found in late afternoons
and in my mother's stories
Twilight was warm
Twilight was idyllic
Twilight was looking back

The day has ended
and the day is full.
I thought.
It was not twilight then.

The day has not yet ended
Yet, I am on my way to the afternoon
and the thought
of getting there
marks the start
of a sadness
found in looking
at the fading
scenery of
a beautiful vacation spot
you know
you're never going
to visit again
or the emptiness
you feel
when you look at
the fading silhouette
of a friend as
he walks away
knowing
that the
goodbyes
you exchanged
would be the
last words you spoke to each other