shadows of nightfall deepening

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Downtown Knoxville and Tennessee River at sunset from South Knox Bridge

"Something to eke out a minute additional—

—shadows of nightfall deepening"

As Walt Whitman penned in Leaves of Grass.

It doesn't take much

to make one pause and eke out

an additional minute from a dying day,
the last drop from the cup.

To dally, to lollygag,
often it's the sunset o'er your city,
this day on a bridge overlooking a river.

Yes, sometimes the woodsy ones 

live near a city and its people.

Back to Whitman's Leaves:
"Once I pass'd through a populous city 

imprinting my brain
for future use with its shows"

"shadows of nightfall deepening"

Only Whitman could write
such a perfectly beautiful line
using only four words.

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