Last night, on his birthday eve, John looked out the window and said, I can see Orion.
The Road was lit with Moon and star –
It’s been damp lately, skies muzzy with cloud. Orion has always been his constellation, hovering over him as a young boy buying his first bow, learning the tension, the release of the arrow. I made this quilt for a grandson 7 years ago when he was turning 3, a swirl of autumn salmon, shell buttons for eyes and for the constellations present in our western sky on the night of his eastern birth crowning the top: Cygnus, Cassiopeia, and Orion. Still in the sky, as another birthday is celebrated.
The Road was lit with Moon and star –
The Trees were bright and still –
Descried I – by the distant Light
A Traveller on a Hill –
To magic Perpendiculars
Ascending, though Terrene –
Unknown his shimmering ultimate –
But he indorsed the sheen ––Emily Dickinson
...Theresa Kishkan 