we had our comforts there
and mundane wonders

treading stone-filled concrete sidewalks
poured long before our births,
embossed with the occasional archaeological find:
a finger-carved name or a sneaker print
accompanied by effectively prehistoric dates

streets lined with houses from a model train landscape,
no doubt with plastic people huddled inside

old kicks hanging by entwined laces from telephone wires

endless Saturdays we didn’t know were finite

sunsets and mosquitoes
in the overgrown grass of old parks going to seed

the streetlights that provided oases at night
illuminated the way home,
flickering as if in some forgotten code
to warn us about what the future held

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