Gazing at the Sky

They turned the lights on the soccer fields off a few minutes ago. Now I have only a dim moon shadow below me. Without those blazing lights, the long shadow that reached from here to the edge of the woods is gone.

They turned out the lights, but the sky is still filled with the glow of the city. There are flood lights on the side of the middle school. There are parking lot lights a quarter mile away at the elementary school. And there is the orange glow of the highway lights (accompanied by the non-stop rush of tires on concrete).

Once upon a time, not so long ago, someone lying here in this spot looking up like this would have seen much more than there is to see now. On a night light this, with only the wispiest of clouds blowing overhead, the heavens would have been a wonder to see.

I have seen skies like that. From the darkness of the panhandle, driving to Colorado, I have gasped at the stars. From the Big Bend Basin in the early spring, I have seen them. In my boots and winter coat standing on an icy lake in Michigan, I have seen skies like what might have been here to see once upon a time. But not tonite.

Look, there's Orion!

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