The London night is peppered with a thousand tiny stars
But never with the silver milky way
We've sprinkled ghostly glow-worms to make safer roads for cars
And lost the finest sights of yesterday
I'd have to move one hundred miles to see one million lights
And bask beneath the theatre of those dark departed nights
When I was young my Father worked a few weeks in Japan
And brought me a reflecting telescope
I turned my gazing skyward and saw worlds untouched by man
Which filled a childish mind with dreams and hope
But now for city children there aren't stars on winter nights
They're lost inside the overflow of closer manmade lights
Each year I'm driven farther to observe amazing scenes
Which man has seen for all his years on Earth
The time is fast approaching when we will not have the means
To show our children what the night is worth
So if you have the fortune to live far from wasteful lights
Take time to drink the beauty of your deep black star-drenched nights
In a list
Please tell me honestly what you think, good or bad.
Comments
1 - 55 of 55
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there is no time for the night anyways there to much
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Very Insightful
This poem speaks the truth of how we are losing the beauty of the night sky with each passing year. -
Stunning
I like this poem a lot, thank you for sharing this.:-) -
A Good Reminder...
Once a while I look up and when the skies are clearer, I see the tiny flickering lights, but that's just once a while...
Tend to forget to take time to see the heavenly patterns that were so breathtaking when I was a kid...
Loved your rendering... Thank you...
I'mCosy
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Truth in what you wrote!
What you wrote is kinda true. Within a few years there may not be a night. Only places that will have a night will be probly little towns like the one I live in. I enjoyed reading you poem alot though and understood what you said....beautiful. -
i loved it. your such a fluent writer and it flows greatly. i enjoyed the read very much and im glad i did read. keep uo the work!! x
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What a wonderful write. I live in the country, away from the incandescent glare..and I cherish every minute of it. My children love to sit on the porch at night and stargaze. I wouldn't trade it for the world
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beautiful piece you have written here, it sounds almost magical ! great imagery... I loved reading this one and thanks for sharing your wonderful work with us!
TexasMomma aka Ellan
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amazing..
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Darn terrific.
'The time is fast approaching when we will not have the means
To show our children what the night is worth'
That particular part is ridiculously brilliant.
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This is simply beautiful.I was blown away by the way it was so honest,simple and so true..Not many people realise this about the night..Very observant..I really enjoyed reading this..
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This flowed together so nicely I enjoyed reading it a very well written piece.
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Great rhyme and rhythm, as always. I miss my Australian skies, living in the mountains far from a city. Here in NZ the stars are slightly different, and most nights they're hidden by clouds.
Yes, I could see it, with you.
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Thanks for the trip back in time Jeff. No need commenting on your pace or rhyme, as they are always "just right". But you helped me re-discover that lost feeling of laying on the cool grass on a summer night and looking up, imagining. When we lose sight of the stars, I think we also lose a little of that imagination... one of the things that makes us human.
Write On!
jIM
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I eally like the imagery and the rhyme scheme.
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Stars mean everything to me, like Abraham's promise so I am blessed to live where they are seen, this is an exceptional write. Blessings.
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i was up in the mountains on a vacation and the stars were so many I could reach out and touch them. This reminded me of that time. Beautiful write.
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A great rhyming and rhymical piece that was delight to read. It is rather sad how the stars are drowned out by the city lights, and look all the more magnificent when you see them in the country night sky again.
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I normaly prefer nonrhyming poems, but this was perfect. It fitted really well together. I'd like to read it again and again. keep up the good work.
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I really liked it. It really made me think. I'v always wondered what a city looked like at night, and i've always wondered what stars looked like. I liked the discription in this poem. Good work!
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This was very well written and very good ,
You touched on a subject that has yet to be mentioned , aside from maybe a few here on this site, not about the stars , but the fact that you dont see them as well or not in the city. New York is like that and it seems like the days are lost cause you can't see the sky and at night you can only see a few stars ,than you have to go a mile to look up and see a few more. The things on earth we have been given and what we have taken for granted. Thanks was a very good read and will look forward to more of you outstanding works.
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I could really relate to this. Although I live in a rural area, more and more lights are left on at night, the fire station across the road, the neighbors who have a night security light, and the rolling beams from the fireworks store 6 miles away that p
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Great!
It stirred many feelings within me. The mark of a great poem! -
loved it, it was great and detailed
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i loved it, nice layout.
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i loved it bro it was awsome!!!!
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love it
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this is nicely done ^^ bringing back those years.. when people were still livin simple yet happy
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i like the message in this piece, and also the form take care
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Very nice
I started to read this and wasn't expecting such an awesome read. Very well put and your view is very clearly represented, you did and amazing job putting us in your position.
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A library in light and constellation,
Their stories wrote in worlds and suns, a presentation
In firmament's delight
of heaven's glories.
A parent wonder birthed our maths and reason,
Spawned progress for a century's polluted season-
Denying us
our fathers' stories.
For power robbed for prideful imitation
Those midnight fears to fade in false illumination,
We've lost our soul,
And cannot see it.
If peak-oil's crest and global change
Return to us our stars again.
and dim the lights
So be it!
~~~~~~
The astronomer and poet meet in eloquent collaboration of rhyme and subject, a fitting one for the 400th anniversary of telescopic astronomy. A million stars for this one, Jeff!
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wonderfull poem
realy makes you think -
a good poem though i would have preferred to see some punctuation used in the piece, that for me spoiled it.
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I am sorry the lack of dots and squiggles spoiled the poetry for you, I usually prefer to allow the meter and structure to punctuate for me, but it will never work for everyone. It will probably grow some punctuation in time.
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Ohh, I love this ! I love how you used 'peppered' in the beginning. It really emphasized the feeling that was being portrayed to readers. This was very well written, and you really wrote it brilliantly. Thank you for sharing this.
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Here in the US, we have the same problem—we see scattered stars, but the massive arm of the Milky Way is lost to the city lights. I've only seen it a few times here, but I spent a few weeks in the French countryside, and the sight was stunning. I hope to be able to show it to my own son one day (perhaps a bit closer to home). I loved the remembered details in the poem, and the rhythm and rhyme are wonderful. The image of a star-drenched night is magic.
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I loved the imagery. Especially at the beginning. Oh, I wish I could see London.
It flowed well and I liked the rhyme.
I loved it. You did a wonderful job.
Keep up the amazing work. I look forward to reading more of your work.
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I could actually see the stars in the sky, but no milky way. Pretty pictures in my mind... It was great. Keep up the good work! Oh yeah, definitely three thumbs up!
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Great poem
Wonderfully observed and very well told.
Chris
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I love how you manage to deal with man's ability do destroy beauty and you do it so perfectly.
Romantic with a punch ... a joy to read
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Freakin awesome
this was a reeally really good poem. i really like the visual imagry that you used ehre, it really helps paint a picture in the mind with the words that you used, very well put together, very well constructed.
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Ah, you are soooo expert at this! You make me want to jump up and grab a walking stick and a top hat--which I don't own--and dance!! This should be put to music, as I've said before, and a complete musical written around it, with YOU writing all the lyrics. Oh, did I say I loved it???? I do!
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Superb Plus +
Aye, 'tis sad but true! In the name of so-called progress we simply ruin Mother Earth, as we foul our own nest. Imagery; rhythm, and rhyme are just fine. Thanks for sharing.
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I enjoyed this very much. Such wonder in the sky at night its a wonder anyone can sleep! I know exactly how you feel, indeed when I was little and first looked through a telescope I felt that the world was only a first step. You have wonderful imagery, beautiful vocabulary, and such an insight into the mind of someone "wide-eyed" by the stars
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I do and will. The joys of living so close 2 wildlife parks, the mountians, and farm country. I love 2 share the beauty of the night skys with my lovely little girl. We dream of wishing stars, and after life, with angels in the sparkle of the heavens. Well done, will we ever understand our true connection with nature and how we slowly choke it?
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You know how much I like this form (your poem "A Faded Leather Notebook" is one of my all-time favorites, and one of just 3-4 poems I've ever felt inclined to bookmark on this site) and this poem is simply spectacular. I'm going to have to see what I can do to get this on the front page as this is one everyone can take something away from, from its message, to its form to its stunning imagery.
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That is a very generous compliment, thank-you.
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Most beautiful and true. Where have all the stars gone? We have to drive further and further to see a night sky filled with stars. My father also bought me a telescope it is now lost. When I was at sea the star filled sky at night was a wonder to behold. Your words are so beautiful "Deep black star-drenched nights" brought back memories.
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"We've sprinkled ghostly glow-worm" what an unusual phrase! You've just made me glad to see the night sky out here in rural Pennsylvania. Even though almost half of all the houses are peeling and neglected, perhaps there is a great wealth in stars. I love the phrase "Deep black star-drenched nights."
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You have done it again! Look... assemble these poems, write a few new ones, and let my agent have them. He'll hawk them round and see if he can get a children's publisher to take them.
I'll kick him until he does!
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well spoken, seamless.
hats off to the Rhyme master
..that last line still lingers in the mind
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Beautiful write and so true! I love the stars and hate the thought of never being able to see them!
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This is wonderful Jeff. It's sad because it's so true. Population has given us light polution and blocked out the night sky.
Love,
Amera
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Simply a beautiful piece Jeff as always
your words are inhaled and appreciated..I can actually see in your words what my eyes no longer see of the world. Seems all the beauty has been stripped so long that..i dont or cant see what you do..the beauty in life. I thank you for capturing it for the rest of us who....just dont see it.
I love you
Tory
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