Reading for pleasure in the evening
Comfortable on my couch
A bright lamp light shining over my shoulder
How ironic to be reading about light pollution.
Looking out the front window beside the couch
I can see the moon for the hour when it rises
Tracing an angle as it moves upwards
Seen here from 41 degrees north latitude.
I see the moving lights from many airplanes
Coming towards me taking off from LaGuardia
Gliding past me approaching Newark touch down
Tracing paths to and from JFK and Teterboro.
Here so close to Times Square there is no true night
Darkness like people knew before electric lights.
The night sky glows pink under the clouds
And the streetlight glare on my block blinds me.
Oh I can still see Venus and the brightest stars
Register faintly in Orion and the Big Dipper.
And sometimes I see Jupiter or another bright spot
But the rest of the night sky is invisible.
Seeing the satellite photos of earth at night
Getting brighter and brighter year by year
This is the big picture we humans create
Quite lovely when seen from the distance.
The security spot lights on my neighbor’s house
Signal his fear of the darkness up close
And personal trespass into my bedroom
Eyes closed dreaming of deep dark sleep.
We have a cabin 150 miles from here
That’s off the grid and far from the road.
That’s a place to go back in time
And see the millions of stars in the Milky Way.
