Stargazing is a poem that I wrote, which reflects on the amazing experience of looking up at the stars on a clear night when you are miles away from the city lights.
Many town dwellers never truly experience the marvel of the night sky as seen on a clear night, with no moon and no man-made light for miles around, so the Milky Way shines really bright.
You can hear me reading this poem in the video below, or scroll down and read it if you prefer.
Stargazing
Nothing can be quite compared
To gazing up at the sky
Lying back on a clear calm night
And looking up on high
It saddens me to stop and think
Many never take the chance
To escape the glaring city lights
And to have themselves a glance
Of all of heaven’s glories
The myriad shining globes
That ever float there, shining
In their boundless dark abode
City dweller that I am
The lights entrap me too
And when I look up at the stars
I see just precious few
On those occasions far too rare
When I can escape the lights
Thousands of shining dots appear
All stars just shining bright
Stargazing memories linger
When I was far from the city light
Like on Safari in Kenya
It was an amazing sight
A moonless sky, no sign of cloud
A hundred miles from town
The Milky Way, The Southern Cross
Far too many stars to count
Another time far off the coast
At anchor in a boat
In an inlet off New Zealand
Off an island that was remote
The sea was fully mirror flat
Again there was no moon
The stars so bright reflected
Such a tranquil calm lagoon
The Southern Cross stood out so clear
The planets too shone bright
While shooting stars zig-zagged across
It made a memorable night
More recently in Cornwall
We stayed far out of the town
Each evening waiting patiently
For the sunlight to die down
There was no moon to light the sky
No clouds to help obscure
The myriad stars that greeted us
We laid back and gazed in awe
For a most romantic moment
Try staring up at the sky
While lying in a hot tub
Watching satellites glide by
At times I stop and wonder
How colossal is the sky
And yet how small our planet is
A truth we can’t deny
Do you wonder as you gaze above
At all those twinkling lights
That millions of empty miles away
Someone else has a similar sight
I’m sure that we are not alone
In these dark skies full of light
It would defy all logic
And I’m sure that can’t be right
When dreaming time comes to an end
And reality hits once more
I’m back here in the city
And not on some distant shore
The stars are such a wonder
A sight to not be missed
Teach your children to look up at them
And they will be surely blessed
Show them Venus, Orion’s Belt
Show them The Plow and show them more
Show them the glorious worlds above
And they will beg you to learn more
Nothing can be quite compared
To gazing up at the sky
Lying back on a clear calm night
And looking up on high
The following images in this video were used under a Collective Commons License:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Night_Sky_Stars_Trees_02.jpg
https://www.pxfuel.com/en/free-photo-jmmjb
https://www.pxfuel.com/en/free-photo-jruoc
https://www.flickr.com/photos/james_wheeler/9309833189
https://negativespace.co/trees-night-sky-stars/
https://www.maxpixel.net/Night-Moon-In-The-Evening-Sky-Night-View-Cloud-1180345
