the green box

cool crisp dry

eight pm end of summer air

feels smells tastes like

the climate of my childhood

and the cul de sac where summers

lasted half a lifetime

the big green box

(full of power)

on the edge of our neighbour's lawn

homebase right nextdoor to home

eight or ten or twelve of us

(all under twelve)

counting running hiding whispering

seeking racing laughing shouting

home free!

until called home to call it a night

long before night was done

my bedroom with the big blue desk

and blackout blinds for early bedtimes

a breeze would slip through the inbetween

to land upon my pillow

where i still wondered

about the other side of midnight

then closed my eyes and drifted off

with twelve o’clock

still hours away