To A Refinery In The Desert At Night

Sparkle, silent city!

Arrayed in radiance,
Appear across black leagues
As clear as desert stars
Across black light years, shine
In arid dark as do
Those incandescent few
Oases: cities all,
Like thee and me, adrift
For all eternity.

And fuel our human craft,
A slender brilliance, singing,
Rising straight and clear
Against that greater night
To reach those greater cities,
Still to journey on,
Its silvery silhouette
As luminous as any
Desert star at dawn.