Sky Fever

For various reasons it's been too long since I was out observing under a good dark sky. John Masefield's poem "Sea Fever" came to mind and so without further ado, my butchered version:

Sky Fever

I must go out to the dark sky, to the Milky Way in the sky,
And all I ask is a tall 'scope and a star to steer her by,
With observers lists and a red light and coffee by the pint,
For a long night at the eyepiece until the grey dawn breaking.

I must go out to the dark sky, for the call of the nebulae
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is an inky night with the deep sky calling,
And the dark lanes and the bright stars, and the clusters gleaming.

I must go out to the dark sky, to the vagrant observers life,
To the snake's home and the coyote's home where the day sun's like an oven;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long nights over.

With Apologies to John Masefield