acquainted with the night

Evenings descend earlier now along the banks of Tannehill Creek gingerly, on cat's paws, so that by the time I arrive home from work I can barely make out the trusses of the new house framed against the twilight. There, on the back deck perched amongst arthritic oaks, I find myself drinking a beer and pondering what life will be like after the shingles are laid, the drywall floated, and the Nelson lamps hung just so.
Nights like this, months hence, will most assuredly bring the glow of tv screens from veiled windows to illuminate the landscape an incandescent blue. I inhale the cedar-tinged air and watch the fireflies alight. I have been one acquainted with the night.

Acquainted With the Night
By Robert Frost

I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain--and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.
I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,
But not to call me back or say good-by;
And further still at an unearthly height
One luminary clock against the sky

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.