When the fun finally relents

            after broiling the seas of civil servants

And the heat finally slips off of the streets and streets

            of sandy granite shrines

            spilling into the drains and on to the river

And our cadence finally slows down

            as we stroll through twilight air that’s as thick as pudding

            but somehow no longer uncomfortable

And we start to think about easier things

            like dinner or a stranger’s dog:

Washington finally begins to feel

            a bit like what it really is:

            a Southern town.