Orion by James Longenbach

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.