Back to School

Back to teaching again after a month's respite. A month's respite from slamming out of my office at straight up 5 o'clock to make it on time, leaving shivering stacks of undone deskwork. A month's respite from standing on a traffic flurried street corner on the deep gloomy Lower East Side, craning my neck and hopping up and down straining for a cab about as common as a golden fleece. A month's respite from the dark wait, snapping cold, winter drizzle.

I gird myself for the unpleasantness, hunch my shoulders. But tonight the air is soft and warm. Looking west through a gap in the projects is the hazy orange chemical glow of sunset over New Jersey. The eastern sky is a clear shot of waxing moon. Look up, and it is the coming of the blue hour, those gorgeous moments when everything looks so different.

Now I see, we are on the back end of winter's long days. And look! Here's a cab!