Across January’s clear dark sky,
the moon half lit, the temperatures
cold,
single digits, the stars and the
constellations
begin their winter journey toward
spring.
Most familiar, clearly seen, Orion’s
hunter,
his 3-starred belt, Alnitak,
Alnilam, and Mintaka.
his shield, his sword, his club,
Betelgeuse,
and brighter Rigel, Orion blinded
and punished,
stranded there in the winter sky.
And Lealaps, his magical dog,
trailing behind,
Canis Major, Sirius, the dog star,
brightest star in the night sky,
hunting down
any prey, and the smaller dog,
Canis Minor.
And whom do they pursue, here
across
the night sky of winter? Old
Taurus,
the bull? With the red eye, the red
star
Aldebaran, he but the protector of
the Pleiades’
cluster, the seven sisters, seven
daughters
of Atlas and Pleione, seven fearing for their lives,
fearing
Orion’s affections? Seven doves placed
safely among
the stars, these whom he would seek,
yet cursed,
never to catch them, an endless pursuit.
This
drama is thus played out in the night sky of winter,
their
roles cast and their fates sealed, a tragedy, this play
brought
to an end at the seasons’ changing, winter into
spring,
balance again restored in the heavens, on earth,
and in
our lives, emerging from ourselves at winter’s end.
And
with it, the stars and the constellations of spring
return, emerging, the Virgin, the Lion, and the Great Bear.
x
