Losing the Night

The London night is peppered with a thousand tiny stars But never with the silver milky way We've sprinkled ghostly glow-worms to make safer roads for cars And lost the finest sights of yesterday I'd have to move one hundred miles to see one million lights And bask beneath the theatre of those dark departed nights When I was young my Father worked a few weeks in Japan And brought me a reflecting telescope I turned my gazing skyward and saw worlds untouched by man Which filled a childish mind with dreams and hope But now for city children there aren't stars on winter nights They're lost inside the overflow of closer manmade lights Each year I'm driven farther to observe amazing scenes Which man has seen for all his years on Earth The time is fast approaching when we will not have the means To show our children what the night is worth So if you have the fortune to live far from wasteful lights Take time to drink the beauty of your deep black star-drenched nights