Quietly dimming in a slow but relatively painless decline, the streetlight near the Rock-Tree on the main green began to flicker in anticipation of the inevitable end it has long been marching toward.

“I’ve done everything I set out to do on this earth," the old lamp thought to itself reassuringly, struggling to remain conscious between fading flashes of its dim glow, "I lit up the sidewalk at night, I attracted bugs. Now it’s about time I burnt out.”

“I made the world a little brighter in everything I did and what more could a streetlight ask for in life?” the lamp said to no one in particular with a tinge of sadness in its voice, remembering once again that it had long outlived the other light bulbs it shared the street with in its youth.

“It’s time,” the lamp whispered repeatedly, emphasizing it’s not at all daunted by the prospect of death and growing just a little brighter for the last time. “I’m ready for this. Everyone I’ve ever known and loved is waiting on the other side.”

Sources close to the streetlight confirmed it’s darker than usual at that part of the sidewalk tonight.

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