Orion

The sky was cold enough
and the snow clear enough
that when we lay down
in the piles and piles of it
that remain these many days

You said, "See those three stars.
They make the belt of a man."

We last spoke of Orion
last summer
when the grass was green enough
and air warm enough
to be swatting mosquitoes

I simply do not know
which part of this
causes my heart to swell

The awe-some clarity
of Orion's belt
in early March

The whip-smart memory
of my little man
at four years old

Or the icy slippery
mounds of snow still
soft enough to nap on

--

Or maybe I should say
that my heart swells
because it wasn't even me there
but your mom who told me

but her pleasure and wonder in it
was enough
that my heart is enough
and my awe enough
that the whole thing is enough
to almost bursting