Light Pollution

Broken down, sketchy lines,
The railroads and the parkways,
Leading north.

The city lights are leaking into the sky;
fade and dull grey,
Its natural hue is a darker color.

I want to go farther north,
(Syracuse or Albany maybe,
I thought once of running away).

I want to go
Farther north,
To a place where it is dark enough,
To a place where I can see,
In winter’s sky,
The spread of the Milky Way,
And these pinpoints of light:
Many stars,
A few planets,
Distant galaxies

I want to go to a place where it is dark because
City People like bright city lights,
But me,
Under bright lights I feel naked;
Exposed as a fraud and a wannabe.
Like Adam and Eve
I know my sins;
I need a dark sky to hide under.

I want to go farther north,
To a place where it is cold
In such a place
A layer of snow stifles the attending earth,
Water slows and crystallizes
The usual colors dissipate, but do not die,
And life ambles along, deliberately,
At its own pace.

I want to go to a place where it is cold,
So that the world won’t bleed together.
In the frigid air each entity seems more vividly defined,
And that sharp contrast gives a more definite contour to the land and that which tenants it.

I want to go farther north,
To a place where it is silent.
I’ve heard that in such a place,
The word spoken is
An unnecessary oddity.
Stay there long enough,
And your whole self becomes quiet.

I want to go to a place where it is silent
So I can learn to wear silence
With more poise than I do now;
So no abrasive words will meet my ears,
And these words running off my tongue
Won’t make me seem a fool.

I don’t like intensity in degree
Because it’s assault on the senses;
These walls are too thin;
It all becomes a sharp, confusing haze,
That is cheapened by its velocity and quantity.
I’m not able to navigate through such chaos.

I want to go farther north,
So I will reach a place
Where it is so silent
My voice is lost in the stillness
Where it is so cold,
Everything is contained in
Its own crystal sphere;
Where it is dark enough
That I can see the stars,
Each sphere of light
A singularity;
Separate and complete.