Orion
Stars rising like something said, something never To be forgotten, shining forever—look How still they are. Blind hunter crawling Toward sunrise, then healed. He opened his eyes to find her waiting —Afraid—and together they traveled Lightly: requiring nothing But a sense that the road beneath them stretched Forever. At the edge He entered the water, swam so far That he became a speck: his body Washed ashore, then raised to where we see it now— The belt, the worn-out sword. I'm not Afraid— Except that there is nothing beneath us, No ground without fear. The body vulnerable —You can look at me— The body still now, never Changing, rising forever—stay— Like something said.
Credit
From Fleet River by James Longenbach. Copyright © 2003 by James Longenbach. Reprinted by the University of Chicago Press. All rights reserved.
Date Published
01/01/2003