Lost In The Light

“I’m a visionary. I’m ahead of my time.

Trouble is, I’m only about an hour and a half ahead.

Here’s a good idea: a light bulb that only shines on things worth looking at.

Yeah, too idealistic, never make any money on a thing like that.”

– George Carlin

Lost In The Light

Illuminating our way
To where we can see
Everywhere we go

Yet still not know
Or have any clue of
Where we are at

By shining bright lights
On everything in sight
So easily led by fright

As humans become collateral damage
In the ongoing battle for brightness
Between incandescent & fluorescent

Never iridescent, yet hot as halogen
Or as cool as light emitting diodes under
The high pressure of sodium vapor

Aimed in no particular direction
So candescent it manifests reflection
Even off the darkest of surfaces

The bright ambient light
Bouncing back and forth
Off of the thin atmosphere

Obscures our vision, sense
Wonder and night dreaming
Of our place in the cosmos

Not by what we could see
But rather by what we can
No longer sense of our place

The place within ourselves
That mirrors the collective’s
Place in the infinite infinity

Which by comparison are both
Microscopic dots of the whole
You on earth & earth in infinity

Soon it will all be a myth anyway
As lights out-candle the views
Because we are afraid of the dark

Starry nights will go the way
Of dinosaurs becoming extinct and
Read about in museums

Our evolution
Is not looking
Too bright

“Just an observation,
Maybe I need
Different glasses.”

– Angelo Devlin

This was un-inspired by my work travels, which takes me over a mountain pass between two sparsely populated states.
Where on a cool cloudless night one could stop at the summit, look up (or down)(we are on a spinning sphere, right) in the sky.

The closest thing, to being a kid 50 years ago, when you could lie on the grass in your back yard. Observe the stars and wonder. See the big and little dipper, the thicker band of star light.

To latter learn at The Griffith Observatory that earth, in relationship of this one galaxy called the Milky Way, is in that outer band of stars. Keeping our ego in self check that it is not the center of attention or the center of the universe.

Now, that view is diminishing by small cities, (populations under a thousand) just fifteen miles away, so lit up with lights shining on things not worth looking at, it bleeds into the ozone layer as a veil of ignorance.

I want my stars, we need the stars to show / sense our way, away from the narcissistic path of deity destruction.

I’ll close with some Iron Maiden lyrics.

“Fear Of The Dark”

I am a man who walks alone
And when I’m walking a dark road
At night or strolling through the park

When the light begins to change
I sometimes feel a little strange
A little anxious when it’s dark.

Fear of the dark, fear of the dark
I have a constant fear that something’s always near

Fear of the dark, fear of the dark
I have a phobia that someone’s always there

Have you run your fingers down the wall
And have you felt your neck skin crawl
When you’re searching for the light?
Sometimes when you’re scared to take a look
At the corner of the room
You’ve sensed that something’s watching you.

Fear of the dark, fear of the dark
I have a constant fear that something’s always near
Fear of the dark, fear of the dark.
I have a phobia that someone’s always there

Have you ever been alone at night
Thought you heard footsteps behind
And turned around and no-one’s there?
And as you quicken up your pace
You find it hard to look again
Because you’re sure there’s someone there

Fear of the dark, fear of the dark
I have a constant fear that something’s always near
Fear of the dark, fear of the dark.
I have a phobia that someone’s always there

Watching horror films the night before
Debating witches and folklore
The unknown troubles on your mind
Maybe your mind is playing tricks
You sense, and suddenly eyes fix
On dancing shadows from behind.

Fear of the dark, fear of the dark
I have a constant fear that something’s always near
Fear of the dark, fear of the dark
I have a phobia that someone’s always there.

When I’m walking a dark road
I am a man who walks alone

“Fear Of The Dark”

Iron Maiden

Are you afraid of the dark? Everything is the same, only with the absence of light.