Incandescent Light

Incandescence is on its way out.
It lingers like an old employee refusing to retire
though everyone else can see
It Would Be For The Best.
Let’s remember—it gave decades of glow
before we grew so concerned with
Being Efficient.
Let’s remember to say thank you
for countless little sizzles of connection:
The lit farmhouse in the distance
visible from the highway.
The convenience store down the block
when the children are sick and
you are out of diapers or ginger ale or patience.
All those times you flipped a switch
and transformed a dark and empty room.
Or right now, that window across the street—
the one above your neighbor’s kitchen sink
when you thought you were alone in the night.
That little sizzle.