Numina Loci (Austin)

by Anna Walther

Let us begin our song

with ocean, earth, and sky;

the Sun: fuel, fire, and light;

and the Moon: three-fold mirror and mistress of tides;

Their great and holy dance gives rise to

El Niño y La Niña, bickering twins;

and Polar Vortex, a trickster;

North Wind, a winter hag, blue and wild;

Green Rising, a spring maiden mild, and

the wildflowers that rise up where she sings,

beloved by the Lady of the Lake.

From earth rise the Liveoak Kings, attended by grackles;

in sky fly bats who birth under the Bridge,

in sight of Lady Liberty, an immigrant,

great-granddaughter of Pallas Athena,

who holds the five-pointed Star of Texas

over where river, prairie, and plateau meet.

White Buffalo and Gray Wolf, ghosts, roam

limestone hills and drink from

springs that babble at their feet;

From this very land they rise,

gates to memory and myth:

the clear creek, this green tree, that gray stone,

rough bark, cold water, smooth bone:

numina loci.

Hic sunt enim spiritus.