Night In The City

 


“City Lights, the pretty lights, they can warm the coldest nights.” 

              Neon Rainbow      

              The Box Tops 1969


There’s something special about city lights.  They are so pretty, so peaceful. I was a teenager the first time I really noticed them.  My friends and I climbed a condemned fire tower near Red Mountain in Birmingham. All of three of us were tightly focused on avoiding rotten or missing steps until we reached the top and faced the downtown skyline in the distance.  At once, we were mesmerized by the blanket of shimmering lights that lay before us. We felt like gods looking down on a starlit sky.  Traffic signals flashed red and green. Automobile headlights moved in glowing, flowing lines. Multi colored signs adorned the building tops. And all around them thousands them of street lights sparkled. It was like watching a beautiful woman dancing in a sequenced evening gown.


That was the beginning of my love affair with city lights. When I began dating, I quickly discovered the advantages of a quiet place overlooking the city sky line.  


From the Empire State Building, to the Sears Tower, and many places in between, I have been dazzled by the shimmer of  nightscapes. The gleam covers up all the pot holes and urban blight.  What lays before you is soothing, silent, and serene - especially in places like New York and Chicago where the lights reach as far as the eye can see. 


Airplanes offer a unique opportunity to view city lights from above. Sometimes on an evening flight I’ll find the beams of an automobile and follow it until it’s out of my sight. I always wonder if the driver knows I’m watching him from thousands of feet above?  Other questions begin to percolate in my mind. What kind of car is it? Where’s it going?  Home from work?  What do they do for a living?  Or, maybe they’re returning from a shopping trip. Is the driver alone, or do they have a family?  Does he have a nice home?  A good life?  Are they looking at the plane above them and thinking the same thing about me?


Maybe that’s why I’m so fascinated by the glow of a city at night. It’s not just the serene beauty. It’s because I know that every speck of light has a story behind it. 


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