Orion and Cassiopeia

On this cold, clear night
ten thousand stars burn overhead.

It's ten degrees and getting colder,
but this older man who feels young
stays outside long enough
to find his favorite constellations:
Orion and Cassiopeia;
dependable and constant,
light years apart.

Coming into the house,
he decides to warm his wife
with a January fire, with firewood
he cut, split, and stacked last October,
when the woods were aflame with color,
and time was burning fast.

Flames grow in the fireplace,
sparks rise like a constellation,
and passion returns to burn
on this cold clear night.

© 2017 Richard Havenga

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