Rhapsody

constellations: scorpio

the fourth night
10:13 p.m.

i think about that boy from last night. orion.

i googled his name today,
because i wanted
to know more about his constellation.

i know the story of orion the hunter,
of course.
or rather, stories. there's
so many version of those greek myths -
just like how there's so many
"versions" of the truth nowadays;
but i like that quote
from the movie cloud atlas:
"truth is singular. its versions are
untruths."

my favorite version - that paints him in
the best light, because
i don't want to think of
the boy-who-showed-me-the-stars
as a bad guy - says that
orion was a son of poseidon
and thus had the gift of
walking on water.

he served a king, but then
fell in love with the princess; so
the king banished him.

he met, then, and became
a hunting companion
of artemis the huntress,
goddess of the moon.

he looked up at the moon,
wondering about the nameless girl.
was she staring at the same moon,
right now?

orion was a great hunter,
but not a great person.
he boasted that he would kill
every beast on earth; but
mother earth was not pleased.

she sent a scorpion to kill him,
and it did.

the goddess artemis was
devasted, and asked her father,
zeus, to place orion
in the night sky.
he consented, but also
took the scorpion and
hung it amongst the stars.

scorpio, or scorpius
is a constellation of the zodiac;
and it is my
sign.

it's not a nice story, to be honest;
most tales of orion
that i found online were
unflattering.

but we don't always have to
live, well, down to our names,
do we?

i stare up at the night sky
and tried to find
the hunter and the scorpion;
but i can't. even though
orion had showed me
his constellation
last night, i still can't find it
by myself.

i try to spot a glimpse
of antares, heart of the scorpion:
scorpio's brightest star.

there are so many stars that
i do not know which is which; and
after a long while, i give up.

he wishes he could
leave this house and go to her;
but his parents are downstairs,
and he doesn't dare
move at all.

he thinks about the nameless girl
and breathes a message into the night air.

orion,

if you're listening,

i'd like to

see you again.