Summer Evening

Summer Evening
---- Big Frank Dickinson

The lovers stand under the porch light;
He's leaning towards her against the ledge
While she stands immobile with arms
Thurst back scantily dressed in pink.

At first, in looking at the couple,
We see a kind of courtship ritual
That prompts our memories to
Put a sentimental script to this scene.

She seems stiffly determined in some way,
Either poised to pronounce some finality,
Or uncertainly resistant to something he's
Saying, as he explains or implores.

But the green slanting through the window,
Across the door, then down his pants to
A sliver of lawn; says more than their imagined
Conversation: follow the green

To the dark frame that shows us this is
More than what they say, it is where
They are now in the world that surrounds
The conversation that blinds them to

This beautiful scene of geometrical contrast:
The white-black pattern of
The clapboards that stand as columns
Bordered by blue floorboards and ceiling;

The porch columns disappearing
Into the total blackness surrounding this
Porch-lit couple who are echoed
By the door and window paired to their left.

We are highlighted by props
That accompany us even when
We think we're off stage. Even then
They cast their beauty out around us.