If you, perchance,should zoom in on a night scenario, and see a beautiful cityscape clearly outlined in a night for celeberations and thus illumined;would you for a moment think such a sight was only possible if the air was clear?No mists, no inclement weather, no fog smogs!Naturally you would think so.if it were a night, when Roma, one of the greatest cities of those times was wrapped in flames and smoke, would you be able to see any city outlines?and like Nero, you might have relapsed into a recessive mood.What am I driving at?

Just a few lines more of my "rant and rail", and you will soon come to know what I am talking of.In most of our cities there is too much smog, then there are the aerosol sprays and green house effect, burning holes in the sky’ atmospheric layer.A poet’s description focussing on a great city’ s dome and the outlines of the city lit up in and around, sets the stage to ‘transport ’exhilaratingly the reader to a higher celestial world.full of grand, splendid, glowing orbs.and a ‘wandering star transfixed’.Imagine the fixity and acuity of vision, and clarity of unpolluted skies required to harness the ‘’wanderer’’.

In our present times, the surviving image of a star, travelling through eons of light years, and expected to be seen by stargazers, after the source of that star’s image, the star itself has collapsed into the Black Hole!never to be seen again.And the surviving image gets swallowed by the particulate full smog, and the pallor-glare sky over the street and tall buildings’ myriad lights, never to be seen again by any air polluted city dweller!remember the recent Beijing olympics.The hype about Beijing smog.How much the organisers had to spend, to control the smog, and the wet weather, just to provide a ‘blob’ of clarity to the rest of the world,which even saw the famed ‘bird’ s nest’ venue, bright in the beautiful splendour of the fireworks display!!!!

Now let us zoom in onto what Robert.......has to say about the envisioned nocturnal on a clear night with ‘inspiring music.’The following is an excerpt, from his poem ‘Abt Vogler’.

Robert Browning

Abt Vogler

17 And another would mount and march, like the excellent minion he was,

18 Ay, another and yet another, one crowd but with many a crest,

19Raising my rampired walls of gold as transparent as glass,

20 Eager to do and die, yield each his place to the rest:

21For higher still and higher (as a runner tips with fire,

22 When a great illumination surprises a festal night--

23Outlining round and round Rome's dome from space to spire)

24 Up, the pinnacled glory reached, and the pride of my soul was in sight.

25 In sight? Not half! for it seemed, it was certain, to match man's birth,

26 Nature in turn conceived, obeying an impulse as I;

27And the emulous heaven yearned down, made effort to reach the earth,

28 As the earth had done her best, in my passion, to scale the sky:

29Novel splendours burst forth, grew familiar and dwelt with mine,

30 Not a point nor peak but found and fixed its wandering star;

31Meteor-moons, balls of blaze: and they did not pale nor pine,

32 For earth had attained to heaven, there was no more near nor far.

Robert Browning resided at a number of places. One of the places is Camberwell.The name is encaptured with the beautiful name of a beautiful rare specimen of a butterfly called the Camberwell........It is believed to be extinct. Why it reached extinction maybe a story in itself.It may have been the transition from pastoral to modern.Like the poet who is no more but lives on in Camberwell through his poetry.Camberwell has also given a place to this sheer exquisite winged creature in its museum.Maybe its loveliness may inspire the poet in some visitor.But the scientist writhes; why was it allowed to go extinct!?

Way back in History this place was closer to nature.Now only a small token is available in the form of "green’’ a very small area of common land left, which was once a traditional village green-where an annual fair used to be held.

Housing and towers fill the district, which is as modern as can be, with the attendant problems of air,land pollution and traffic congestion for which there is a fine.But a very environs protection conscious community exists, and regularly takes care of this issue.There are many agencies involved in looking after Camberwell’s outdoor environment and keeping it safe.Cleaner, greener, safer fund.Camberwell has-walking distances, cycling and two-themed Walks;camberwell wildlife and early immigration to camberwell.

Camberwell is a disrict of London and forms part of the London borough of Southwark.

The London Borough of Southwark, occupying a roughly triangular area south of Tower Bridge over the River Thames, considers itself to be one of the greenest boroughs in London, insofar as its parks and open spaces are concerned. There are more than 130 such green areas, ranging from the large areas around Dulwich and Southwark Park in Rotherhithe to the many sports grounds and squares.

There are many favorite haunts in and around Camberwell which would surely bring out the poetic,the lyrical or maybe even the descriptive narrator in any talented "haunted", of the present times.

Source:wikipedia and the internet.