What We'll Miss (The AfterHours Club)

For the children strolling
silent streets in silent nights
and riding in black
in black on bikes

for those whose initial
fear has subsided
and who'll learn what it
means to regret silence

for the rebelling theys and
professing yous believing
delusions ("We'd sneak out too
but it's much too cold to.")

for the dismal crescendoblue
sky with bats and flies
for the gallant exuberance
of youth and nights,

Leave your distortions at home,
"gather ye rosebuds while ye may."*
The streets at night are yours alone,
yours to conquer, to lust, to take.

*Robert Herrick's "To Virgins, To Make Much of Time."