HILARY ELFICK

Orion
 

upside down above the Tasman, swings
slowly by Kampala’s House of Dying;

turns in cosmic breeze, a new angle on the dirty rivers
of Santiago and Mendoza, the Andes shrunk between them;

drifts languidly across a skylight, where my grandson sleeps,
hazed by light-polluted Clapham between lowering planes;

rinsed clean, a new sharpness over Orkney,
a fulmar’s scrape, a rose cathedral and a poet’s grave;

stands still at North Cape, Trondheim,
waits for a hovering sun to change its mind.

Find the belt, and there its fourth, smudged, tiny star
unveiled, to sparkle above the growling hunch of Uluru,

guarding the sacred footprints, rusting the climbing chain.
And Betelgeuse, dominant: this bold star keeps watch on whales,

slides above the Southern Right as she
beats her tail to call her calf in Patagonia;

spots the Brydes as she blows before she arches,
showing her tail fin to dive beneath the Tasman;

waits for an albatross to start her mirror dance
where winds blow constant over Otago Head,

my guardian constellation, wherever I go
slides round again so slowly, slowly, slow.

Roxana-Monica Mîndrican

Hilary Elfick
 

Orion*

Cu susul in jos deasupra Tasmanului,* se leagana
usor langa Casa Mortii din Kampala*
se transforma intr-o briza cosmica, o noua undita pe raurile murdare
din Santiago si Mendoza*, Anzii se contracta intre ele;

aluneca lent de-a lungul unei ferestruici unde nepotul meu doarme,
mangaiat de un Clapham* pangarit de lumina printre avioanele mohorate;

limpezit, un nou tais deasupra insulelor Orkney,*
caraitul unui fulmar, o catedrala trandafirie si mormantul unui poet;

sta neclintit la Capul Nord, Trondheim*
asteapta ivirea unui soare suspendat pentru a disparea.

Gaseste cureaua si acolo micuta-i stea cu patru colturi, patata,
dezvaluita, stralucind peste sumbrele stanci din Uluru,*

Veghind pasii sacri, ruginind lantul pe care se urca.
Si Betelgeuse,* impunatoare: aceasta stea indrazneata ocroteste balenele,

luneca deasupra Emisferei Sudice in timp ce-si agita
coada pentru a-si chema puiul in Patagonia;

vegheaza balenele* atunci cand explodeaza inainte de a se arcui
aratandu-si inotatoarea pentru a se cufunda sub Tasman;

asteapta sosirea unui albatros pentru a-si incepe dansul
acolo unde vanturile sufla neantrerupt peste Capul Otago,*

constelatia mea pazitoare, oriunde ma duc
ma insoteste alunecand usor, usor, usurel.

*Orion, often referred to as "The Hunter," is a prominent constellation – one of the largest, most conspicuous, and most recognizable in the night sky.[1] Its name refers to Orion, a hunter in Greek mythology. Orion's brilliant stars are found on the celestial equator and are visible throughout the world.
 

*in New Zealand
 

*Kampala is fast growing into East Africa's top entertainment hub and top musicians' favourite destination.
 

*cities in Argentina
 

*Clapham dates back to Anglo-Saxon times: the name is thought to derive from the Old English clopp(a) + hām or hamm, meaning Homestead/enclosure near a hill. Clapham Common is a triangular area of grassland of about 220 acres (0.8 km²) in size, situated between Clapham, Battersea and Balham in south London, England. It was historically common land for the parishes of Battersea and Clapham, but was converted to parkland under the terms of the Metropolitan Commons Act 1878.
 

*Orkney (also incorrectly known as The Orkney Islands or, The Orkneys) is an archipelago in northern Scotland, situated 10 miles (16 km) north of the coast of Caithness. Orkney comprises over 70 islands; around 20 are inhabited. The largest island, known as "Mainland," has an area of 202 sq mi (523 km²), making it the sixth-largest Scottish island and the tenth-largest island in the British Isles. The largest settlement and administrative centre is Kirkwall.
 

*Trondheim is a Norwegian center of education, technical and medical research with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

*Uluru, also referred to as Ayers Rock, is a large sandstone rock formation in the southern part of the Northern Territory, central Australia the city.
 

*is a semiregular variable star located approximately 600 light-years away from Earth. It is the second brightest star in the constellation Orion and the ninth brightest star in the night sky.
 

*“the brydes” in the original text- refers to the brydes whales- Bryde’s Whales are the least-known and in many ways the most unusual of the rorquals. They are small by rorqual standards—no more than about 25 tonnes—prefer tropical and temperate waters to the polar seas that other whales in their family frequent; are largely coastal rather than pelagic, and although they retain the characteristic plates of whalebone that the baleen whales use to sieve small creatures from the waters with, their diet is composed almost entirely of fish.
 

*located in New Zeeland. Much of the Otago peninsula's land is under the auspices of the Otago Peninsula Trust and is maintained as a sanctuary for wildlife. Many species of seabirds and waders, in particular, may be found around the tidal inlets, including spoonbills, plovers, and herons.