Friday, February 07, 2003

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-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
O luminary clock against the sky
Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.

It's still snowing...
go get yourself a cup of coffee, sit back and read the first chapter of another Jack saga...
I hope you enjoy it. A new chapter to follow each day until it's done.
thanks for taking the time to visit...

Treasure of the Sierra Madre, East.

Chapter One


I was cleaning up from dinner on a Friday evening in August, washing a few dishes and bending my ear to a ballgame on the radio, when someone rapped on my front door. I threw the dishtowel over my shoulder and walked through the living room, to catch the silhouette of two lean and tall people shadowed on the front door linen curtain.
"One of them is Jack," I said to myself, "and I bet the other one is Henry."
I opened the inside door and, sure enough, there they were, hands in pockets, cigarettes hanging from their mouths.
I greeted them with the usual, "Hey boys, come on in."
Jack, being a married man, paused to shuffle his feet on the doormat, but Henry, Bachelor Carpenter at Large, just trucked on in, like he would at his own door, or anyone else's, for that matter.
I held the door for them and as they made their way into the kitchen, I thought that someone watching from the street might think it was a meeting of some secret society. We were garbed in our usual after work and weekend uniform.
"Look dear, it's those Green Pants, Brown Shoes and White T-shirt rabble again!"
As they were seating themselves at the kitchen table, I walked past to start a pot of coffee and get the big ashtray. If it was just one or the other of them, this would be a casual visit, but both of them, well this was serious business afoot and called for copious amounts of hot and black, with the two-pack butt kit on hand.
As the pot started to perk, I spun my chair around with the back to the table so I could lean on it and take it all in. They had already stubbed out their smokes and were lighting up anew. I sat down, lit one of my own and asked,
"Well, I'm all ears, fellows, what's the story?"

Dateline New Jersey...
It's snowing like, well, like that probverbial female dog out there... It took me two and a half hours to drive fifty six miles to work...
If I make it home in one piece, I may have tales of daring-do to tell you... or maybe I'll just bitch about all of the people who get in their car on days like this and hit the idiot switch... I, of course, am not one of those... ahem.
Talk to you later.