The Sewanee sky is often dark enough to see the silver smoke of the Milky Way drifting above the treetops. On other nights:

Clouds are ignited by light from dozens of pole-mounted bulbs around athletic fields. The pulse and swirl of light from the wind-driven clouds obscures all else. We vault the sky with our own glow.

Twenty percent of the world’s electricity is used for artificial lighting. In most countries, night lights are getting brighter and more abundant.

At the athletic field, no-one was on the turf. The pole-bulb clusters blazed on, regardless.

Come spring, robins will gather under the lights, singing their day-songs.