Neighbor's House Concert

Do you remember the the other night

walking home in the dark

because we'd thought the moon would be up

so we didn't bring a flashlight

the squnch squnch of fresh snow under our boots

but still warmed by the glow of neighbors
chatting around the table of wine and munchies
discussing the weather, kids, housing travails,

and despite the inevitable dark turn to politics
the lyrics still in our ears

If there's hope in this house I'm gonna find it

If there's hope in this house get me rope

I'm gonna ride it

while in the clear night the train is sounding

all the way down the valley from the next town over.

In the moonless black you say Taurus looks more like a fox

and I point out Castor and Pollux, the twins over Orion,

and our path home is apparently due north

because there is Polaris, beckoning us on.