He was so tall that I had to stretch my neck skyward. His eyes sparkled with life and his robes were dazzling. I just looked at him and thought of the things he may have done in all of his years. Some of my musings were about the battles that he may have fought, the kingdoms that he had ridden through on his trusty steed, the women he must have swept off of their feet… The grandeur of it all took my breath away.

Then I saw what could possibly be an enemy to him. I watched warily as the orange orb approached. As time passed it grew lighter and brighter. I knew that my prince had to run as fast as he could if he wanted to survive the night. The onslaught began and the Milky Way faded. Slowly at first, I could tell he was fading too. His splendor was leaving him but he was still standing tall. After a while his fine vestments were all but gone and he almost looked like the king who had no clothes on, but he still was a great presence and only gave up a little ground.

Translation……… It was somewhere between 2 and 3 am of a long, long night watch in the Pacific Ocean somewhere between Bahia de Los Muertos and Barra Navidad. I was trying everything I could to stay awake so Rich could get some sleep in case anything ugly happened. All of the sails were up so I had to be alert and pay attention to what was going on. The battle between Orion and the Moon went on for a couple of hours. Orion was finally left with only the primary stars in the group, but the constellation was still shining bright. At that point I was getting tired so I got Rich up for his watch. I doubt that Rich paid Orion too much attention but I think that Orion winked at me as I was going below to sleep.