༄｡°༄｡°Stars

Instructions

I stood on my tip toes as I reached for the sky and pulled down the stars, placing each one gently in my basket. First a blue one, then an orange. Next, I pulled down the moon, which was cold beneath my touch. I placed it in the basket along with the stars. I dared not mess with the sun. Burning my hands was not something I desired. I plucked a few asteroids floating by and added them to the collection. My dress, woven from the light of a thousand galaxies swayed with each step I took toward my home in the heavens. My glowing white hair tied in a bun was falling loose, stray strands framing my face. My heart was full. I sucked in a steady breath, before releasing a song–my song. /All of the moons, All of the stars, And even the sun, Sings for me. All of my doubts, All of my worries, They all disappear, When they sing to me./ Suddenly, everything became clear. I stepped from universe to universe gathering stars and moons. When I finished, I traveled to my very favorite universe. The Milky Way was what they called it. I carefully extracted my very favorites from the basket and arranged them in the sky in a series of patterns. I made one in the shape of a man. A hunter to be exact. But he needed a name. How about…Orion? Yes, Orion. Now he needed something to hunt. A bear! I grabbed a handful of the most dazzling ones left and crafted them into the shape of a bear. Her name was Ursa. I had a few left over, so I made a tiny little bear cub for the mama: Ursa Minor. I made sure to put one of the brightest ones in the little bear to represent the spirit of a child. Bright and honest. I made many more, feeling my creative passion leaking out of me into my creations. The constellations. On top of the Hunter and The Bears, I made a Scorpion, a Lion, a Swan, a Bull and a dog. When I stepped back to admire my designs, I sighed a satisfied sigh. My warm breath hit the cold stars and they sprung to life! Orion approached me, took my hand and asked in a deep, life-filled voice, “Would you accept this dance m’lady?” He bowed. “Yes Orion.” I curtseyed back, taking his other hand. We danced through the stars, past planet earth and beyond. We swayed back and forth like tall grass in the wind. We didn’t stop moving until Orion pulled me close and halted moving. “Shh.” He whispered in my ear. “Don’t. Move.” I did as he instructed. We stood there frozen for a long time, until I heard a growl from behind. The bears.“Freeze!” Orion moved quickly as lightning for his bow, whipping around and aiming his arrow straight for the mother bear's head. “Wait!” I exclaimed, pushing his arms down, messing up his aim to ensure he didn’t hit Ursa. “She’s a friend.” “She is a beast and she needs to be hunted.” He insisted. I took a step toward the mama who was shielding her cub. “It’s okay Ursa.” I put a hand out to calm the bear. Her growling softened, and she tilted her head in curiosity. “C’mere.” I prompted to bear to come forward. She stalked forward slowly, Ursa Minor trailing behind. “I really think I should–” “Shh!” I interrupted Orion. “You’ll scare her off.” I turned toward the hulking bear, then pointed toward myself and Orion. “We’re friends.” Ursa nodded as though understanding, then allowed Ursa Minor to come forward and sniff my hand. An interesting look of satisfaction was written across the mama bear's face. I shifted my gaze over to Orion who was looking scared out of his wits. I laughed. “Don’t worry, they won’t hurt you.” I surveyed the whole beautiful scene with pure joy. This was my home. I snapped my fingers, freezing all the stars into positions. Orion stopped mid-sentence, Ursa Major and Minor were cuddling, the dog was chasing the scorpion, the lion was reared up on its hind legs, the swan was sleeping and the bull was grazing. My perfect picture.