Scott and Janet —

It’s almost 7:30 p.m. The library is about to close, and I’m heading uptown on Lexington Avenue to 47th Street.

It was another beautiful day. I love summer evenings.

I’ve been having a mystical experience during my short walk.

The air, the breeze, feels so nice and cool — Walt Whitman would call it delicious.

People on the sidewalk — people everywhere — seem different at this hour. There are less of them. They don’t seem to be in a hurry; the work day is over.

Whitman got a charge from being part of a pedestrian throng, from exchanging looks with passersby.

The women! They never seem to look uptight or fearful of being accosted; instead, they look contented, relaxed. There’s an openness about them. This seems to be true in general of the swell of humanity as they appear to someone like myself “jaunting” in the City.

I passed a chartered bus parked on the west side of Lexington Avenue in the mid-30’s. People were getting off with suitcases. It looked like they were returning from an excursion to the country. A woman was rolling her suitcase along the sidewalk. She looked contented and very relaxed. Living in Manhattan, you can have the best of both worlds.

There’s something special about early summer evenings. Time seems to stand still. There is such a feeling of tranquility, of peace and serenity.

It must be what the poet felt when he wrote: “God’s in His heaven— / All’s right with the world!”

 

— Roger W. Smith

   August 23, 2017