Too Many Lights

“There’s always that thing we’re obsessed about That turns our minds constantly roaming to learn Commanding attention over everything else Restless and longing for knowledge we burn . . .”

There’s always that thing we’re obsessed about
That turns our minds constantly roaming to learn 
Commanding attention over everything else
Restless and longing for knowledge we burn 

For some it’s trains
For others it’s cars
For me it’s stars

When I’ve been out driving too late at night
And finally step out into the chilly air
What I see when I look up takes my breath 
A field of beauty
I just stand and stare

Mars sleeps in the moon’s bright halo
I see Sirius’s high and shining stare
Mirfak and the Pleiades, Aldebaran
The glowing bulk of Jupiter, fiery Altair
Castor and Pollux are alive forever 
And Orion: Hunter, hero, reckoner, lover
Rigel, Betelgeuse, Alnitak, Alnilam, Mintaka 
And there’s Cassiopeia, Andromeda’s mother
Vega hiding, waiting for the summer
Along with me, shivering dreaming 
I wonder what’s up there
I see you Capella
I see you Algol, head of the demon

There’s too many lights everywhere I go
No galaxy sprawl like our ancestors knew
Back when torches couldn’t burn the night sky 
(Now they talk about projecting ads up there too)
But it’s something that brings me back closer to God
I am just a grain of sand
There’s more than deadlines and bills
And long car trips at night lit by halogen lights 

- Alexander

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