The short story; "Shades".

Summary:

If I read this right, the story is about a lone lamplighter. Although it takes a bit of an "eyewalk" to get to the point. Our tale starts out with a description of nightfall that makes the darkness come to life like an evil force from beyond. The "hero" of the story is the lamplighter. He "battles" the darkness of the night, that he disappears right back into.

The narrator of the tale thought that the lamplighter was interesting and mysterious enough to go searching for him. Towards the end, the lamplighter died as mysteriously as he lived.

At the very end of the tale, there seemed to be a "life goes on" feel to what the narrator says about night and the other lamplighters going about their duties.

Comment:

I really enjoyed the way that the twilight and the nightfall was given living attributes. Good writers are uncanilly able to pull off the concept of turning non-living entities into living, breathing beings. And the lamplighter is kept completely unknown and mysterious, which I think helps the story. I've always felt that a story should end with the reader saying to themselves "Oh, hey, wait! How does it end? I want to know more."