a 1960 Perfect Summer Night

Lil Cricket, Frog, Gebo
TallTree and TweetyBird
crooned moon songs neath
the corner street lamp
Too Sweet was knocking
on Leila's side door
she wasn't answering
he had a lousy rep

All the neighborhood
perched on low porches
or high stoops spying
the strolling couples
headed for Clifton Park
where the street ends
in a cool breeze
by lovers reservoir

cruising easy in my sleek
stick shift 5 in the floor
laid back flat convertible
maroon Mercury Marauder
I was leaning lively against
bright white interior leather
just ahead of the Jones boys
candy apple red Harleys

yeah, them Jones boys
always had different set
of sassy beautiful ladies
astraddle their saddlebags
hugging them tightly
and giggling with glee
seems they traded elegant women
like bubblegum and baseball cards

in those lighthearted times
when neighbors had trust
and good folks talked
across brigs porch rails
and borrowed bread
and milk and sugar and
laughed at themselves
for being so human

in my heart i was hoping
Too Sweet would stop hangin round
by vanishing into rock hard cement
between tight bricks too pressed
to breathe God's fresh good air
I mean, he carried a knife a razor
and an unnecessarily harsh temper
somebody could get killed

luckily I swung down the alley
just as Leila snuck out a window
dodging Too Sweets insistent knock
I stopped and opened the car door
and this dark beauty slid close
her eyes were sparkling bottomless
containers of deep dark night
and endless infinite stars

Leila was a dusky sweeet dream
that could turn to nightmare
if Too Sweet ever found out
who left him in the lurch
knocking futile against hope
it was so surreal when we turned
the corner just as the crooners
hit high notes of "This Magic Moment"

The night was clear
the air was clean an fresh
we seemed to float along
those bright city streets
with an overwhelming passion
as we tossed care to the wind
and we swiftly disappeared
"In the Still of the Night"