‘Keeping the Stars’, Anna Sykora
Illustrations © 2016 Carmen Moran
![[ Stars, © 2016 Carmen Moran ]](http://futurefire.net/images/cm-keepingstars1.jpg "[ Stars, © 2016 Carmen Moran ]")
after we marred the night
with arrays of light
gas incandescent
mercury vapor
or cooler LEDs
after we chased away
dark’s last lovely
lingerings
for the sake of
efficiency gains
we felt so lonely
without the stars
ancestors wished on
or dreamed to conquer
we project them
onto the dome
of a special purpose
chamber
we call our children
Orion or Andromeda
to never forget
what shines
beyond the perimeter
of the permalight
© 2016 Anna Sykora
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