Winter Stars

[poliphilo]

I was up at 2.00 and could see stars through the window- and a hollowed out moon low down in the sky like a child's painting of a boat. We haven't had many clear skies this winter so I threw a coat over my pyjamas and went out onto the front lawn to take a better look. Orion was striding south with Sirius below him down among the trees; I saw a meteor shoot across his lower body. The Pleiades were high overhead- so tiny in their sphere of pale light,  so needle sharp; they make me think of the insides of a watch.