Orion’s Ascent

On a cleansing north wind
with days put to balance
The Hunter of dark sky emerges

Summer’s constellations retreat
Orion now takes position on center stage

Guardian of lengthening nights and bearer of snow-covered dreams
His autumn entrance accompanied by late season crickets call 

To his post he marches
Unveiled behind silent wings of a gliding owl

Gone is the season of overwhelming light of thrill and temptation
A heated Jezebel spirit so flirting, fleeting, groundless

Orion reclaims with shield and sword and trailing brilliance of a trusted dog star
The scared position of trust and eternal duty to the honest heart

Moving steady between skyward reach of Oak and Pine
The giant, silent sentry on parapets of canyon walls

Autumn is a sanctuary 
A valley lined with red and gold and green

And in the low-lying mist of a cool, still night
Spirits reside while the Hunter trails through branches and moonlight glances of passing clouds

What remains is everlasting and true and will be guarded
From first frost all the way through winter’s deep
To rise again in the hopefulness of spring