Tough Dilemmas Dept.: Responsible Hawaiian Mountain Stewardship, Or... A Deeper Understanding -- Of The Stars?

The "Gray Lady" has done a nice job on this story -- outlining the competing interests at play (do go read it). I struggle with whether to reach out, and weigh in. . . or remain silent, today. [In truth, I also simply wanted to run the below poem, welded to that stunning photo at right. Smile.]

It always moves me, when I see the Milky Way up close -- the very same Milky Way, of my youth. This is exactly what I remember, powered with stars, against the black -- but usually with lustrous night-snows, underfoot. Do come to your own conclusions, about whether we need a thirty-meter scope on Mauna Kea. I myself am undecided, with Hubble still operating quite well, and the James Webb on schedule, for an October 2018 launch-date, at NASA. Let us now turn to why we are here, this morning, then:

. . . .CLXXIII: She Walks In Beauty, Like The Night

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies,
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meets in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which Heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress
Or softly lightens o'er her face,
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek and o'er that brow
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,—
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent.

-- Lord Byron

I think it best -- to pause right here, for the moment. But -- for my part -- in the darkness, it seems, a truer beauty there resides. What one's eyes cannot see in the dark, one's heart then might. Smile. . . .

नमस्ते