The big-lake-end
of the Nile of the sky, Eridanus,
is the bright star Achernar –
after Arabic ‘akhir al nahr’,
‘end of the river’.
The sea-end star,
right beside Orion’s foot star, Rigel –
‘al rijl’, ‘the foot’ –
is Cursa –
‘al cursa’, ‘the chair’.
To put your foot on a chair
was an evil, a misdeed –
an amiss-
so Cursa was called The Footstool;
The Pouf, after this.
Leave a Reply