Orion is setting

The Old Hunter is now very old indeed. Once, long ago, we saw him lying on an old sofa bed in the conservatory. We didn't have the heart to throw him off, but when he saw us, he got down of his own accord. He never tried to climb in the furniture after that unless we told him to. Or, very rarely, when he knew we were out. When he turned ten, which was a few years ago now, we let him sleep on one of the sofas in the lounge. In the last few weeks he's taken to the old sofa bed in the conservatory again, to doze in the spring warmth. 

Orion is setting for the summer, I notice. How time passes. The Universe makes its strange, slow circles and I would like it to stop, just for a few days.