Athena

Land rests in his mother's cradle
like horns laid on the mantle.
The ball of fire shares its embers
to flora and fauna. The river
slithers like a snake in the land
of knowledge and temptation.
She rises from the glistening belly
of the snake. Shamans perceived
her coming. Life's eternal battle
for life rekindles her dreamless
nights. Her hands perform the ritual
of her kin that only memory
will remember. She utters words
of wisdom; piercing the ears of those
who have forsaken her. The sapphire
in her hand holds her orison -- the
deepest and most desperate desire
of her heart. Her enchantment.
Her elegy. Her poem.