Orion is Arising
I can get quiet on my evening walks, especially in late fall, or early winter. There's something about the weather that makes me think about being a kid again.
I was usually the last kid outside; sometimes long after all my friends had been called in.
I was afraid of the dark--I slept with the hallway light on until I was a sophomore in high school--but if I was outside as it turned dark, I was okay as long as I was looking at the sky.
Winter skies meant my favorite thing: the constellation, Orion.
Lately on our evening walks, Orion is rising over the trees, and still big in the sky when we get home. In the mornings, Orion is big above the other horizon outside the front door.
I don't know why I love the constellation so much. I think it has to do with a song we sang in sixth grade music class.
I was always cool with music class. I don't sing particularly well, but it was better than math, and without the humiliation of P.E.
In sixth grade, we sang a song about Orion.
There was an underlying sense of wonder, something bigger, and something sad in the song. To this day, as I walk along thinking about the lyrics, it still strikes me that way.
The lyrics:
Orion is arising
You can see his stars ablazing
Way out here in the middle of a deep blue country sky.
And it's never too surprising
That the sky is still amazing
Way out here where nothing hides it from my eyes.
And sleeping outside in a bag as a kid
It seems like the best thing that I ever did
And chasing the shadows
and the tracks in the snow
Don't you know?
The world is getting colder
and I really start to wonder
why we're clouding all the country skys to gray
The world is getting older
I can hear it in the thunder
and the rain might come and chase us all away!
And sleeping outside in a bag as a kid
It seemed like the best thing that I ever did
And chasing the shadows
and the tracks in the snow
Don't you know?
The moon is on the wane
And it looks like it might rain
Or maybe snow.
And how are we to stay here
When there's no room left to play here
Or to grow
Don't you know? Don't you know?
The lines that get me everytime:
And sleeping outside in a bag as a kid
It seems like the best thing that I ever did
And chasing the shadows
and the tracks in the snow
Don't you know?
and
And how are we to stay here
When there's no room left to play here
Or to grow
Don't you know? Don't you know?
In sixth grade, those lines hit me hard.
Twenty-seven years later, they still do...
I was usually the last kid outside; sometimes long after all my friends had been called in.
I was afraid of the dark--I slept with the hallway light on until I was a sophomore in high school--but if I was outside as it turned dark, I was okay as long as I was looking at the sky.
Winter skies meant my favorite thing: the constellation, Orion.
Lately on our evening walks, Orion is rising over the trees, and still big in the sky when we get home. In the mornings, Orion is big above the other horizon outside the front door.
I don't know why I love the constellation so much. I think it has to do with a song we sang in sixth grade music class.
I was always cool with music class. I don't sing particularly well, but it was better than math, and without the humiliation of P.E.
In sixth grade, we sang a song about Orion.
There was an underlying sense of wonder, something bigger, and something sad in the song. To this day, as I walk along thinking about the lyrics, it still strikes me that way.
The lyrics:
Orion is arising
You can see his stars ablazing
Way out here in the middle of a deep blue country sky.
And it's never too surprising
That the sky is still amazing
Way out here where nothing hides it from my eyes.
And sleeping outside in a bag as a kid
It seems like the best thing that I ever did
And chasing the shadows
and the tracks in the snow
Don't you know?
The world is getting colder
and I really start to wonder
why we're clouding all the country skys to gray
The world is getting older
I can hear it in the thunder
and the rain might come and chase us all away!
And sleeping outside in a bag as a kid
It seemed like the best thing that I ever did
And chasing the shadows
and the tracks in the snow
Don't you know?
The moon is on the wane
And it looks like it might rain
Or maybe snow.
And how are we to stay here
When there's no room left to play here
Or to grow
Don't you know? Don't you know?
The lines that get me everytime:
And sleeping outside in a bag as a kid
It seems like the best thing that I ever did
And chasing the shadows
and the tracks in the snow
Don't you know?
and
And how are we to stay here
When there's no room left to play here
Or to grow
Don't you know? Don't you know?
In sixth grade, those lines hit me hard.
Twenty-seven years later, they still do...