Stay, said the bird, stay, stay As the summer midnight passes And the rosy dawn is fingering the Eastern sky Enjoy the day And the dew on the spider's web And the dappled light under oak and ash Why leave the ocean's swell and the seaweed shore And the whitespread gull, the limpet shell The thin, heady air of the mountain peak And the stream that swells to a river's spate And a garden, walled, with the scent of thyme And the furrowed field where the foxes lie? Guide me, orion Lead me, orion For you are the bright stalking hunter And your power I obey Protect me, orion Remember friends and loves and familiar scenes And the sad sweet echoes of another time And the scents and sounds of a childhood gone Stay, said the bird, oh stay This is the scale for your leaping dream Here is your life and your resting place Then the wood fell quiet and into the sky A new bird rose with a plume of fire Guide me, orion Lead me, orion For you are the bright stalking hunter And your power I obey Protect me, orion Orion! Guide me, orion Lead me, orion Guide me, orion Lead me, orion Guide me, orion Lead me, orion