Winter Skies

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. 

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