in the spring time the stars began looking for him (photos of mission bay jellyfish posing as nebulae)

[In the spring time the stars . . .]

By John Spaulding

In the spring time the stars began looking for him
By summer time they had found him
By autumn time they had wounded him
       so that the orange and red of his blood began
       to leak from the sky onto the leaves of the trees
By winter time they had slain him
       so that his white fat began to melt and drip
       falling as snow all over the land

And then he would begin to rise again
       first as sap in the trees
       stretching higher and higher
until his back ached but
       knowing he would not stop until
       his black fur was hidden
       deep among the unborn
behind the dark wall of the night sky


John Spaulding, “[In the spring time the stars . . .]” from Walking in Stone. Copyright © 1989 by John Spaulding.