Let the night sky cover him as he dies.

Let the weaver girl cross the bridge of heaven

and take up his cold hands.

–"The Legend,"
Garrett Hongo

The weaver girl is a reference to an old legend told in some Asian and American Indian cultures. It refers to the annual festival called Tanabata, which means "Evening of the Seventh.” The legend states that the Milky Way crosses the sky and separates two people in love. They are allowed to meet only once a year to be together for one day. It is on this night that Tanabata is celebrated.

Read the excerpt from the poem and the information about the allusion to the weaver girl. Then, write two to three sentences that draw a conclusion about how this allusion helps develop a theme of the poem.