Following an invitation put out on the Association of Christian Writers blog for others to contribute guest items with science and faith themes, Susan Sanderson contributed this and some other poems which will appear on this blog in due course. Thank you Susan. It is good to have the topic of light pollution introduce this short poem and be reminded of the issue. We were recently in Northumberland witnessing the exquisitely dark skies in the vicinity of Kielder Observatory in Northumberland and it was startling to see the difference that intense dark makes compared to our skies just north of Cambridge UK and Ely. What an array of beauty there is when our vision is less challenged!
Star trails over Kielder from the Observatory website
The heavens declare…
The street lights’ glow in the city
makes it hard to see the stars.
It’s a pity city dwellers
Rarely see Jupiter and Mars.
Where land is flat vast skies appear
with clouds that drift, changing shape.
From industrial fields stars
(on moonless nights) make people gape.
Where mountains cause the rain to fall
rainbows renew the promise
God made to Noah in his ark –
significance most people miss.
When storm clouds hide both sun and moon
and rain comes down like stair-rods,
it’s hard to remember times
of brightness and grey are both God’s.
(c) Susan Sanderson June 2017
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