Most men who live in cities see few stars,
and, to their loss, they hardly know their names.
Preoccupied with gain and motor cars,
or betting on their mass-promoted games.
The discipline of nature's age-old law,
the comfort of the cycle of the year,
is swallowed in ambition's greedy maw;
which throws bionic rhythms out of gear.
The gleaming Pleiades are lost from sight;
Antares red: Arcturus' yellow light;
the scintillating stellar colour range -
rich evidence of progress by mankind -
now; hidden treasure from the urban mind.
[from the Desert of my Heart and Mind by F.J.A.Pockley 1912-1990]
