by Sandy Wickersham-McWhorter

“Ever doubling back, ever advancing, ever moving in the sky’s blackness
at the poles of Earth,
the Dawn of the North Wind makes herself known.
Humans who are intimate with Aurora Borealis, adore her psychedelic lights when they’re
vulnerable to the Arctic’s winter anger.
Yet, they risk it to see her royal night dance when solar flares ravage the solar system.
Her dancing clothes crown the pole with lithe curtains of light moving in the sky.
Electric particles ride the seams of her magnetic garment down to Earth
to collide with oxygen and nitrogen in the air and dance together
until their voltage must be discharged in a Learyesque light show.
Electric emerald, magenta, and azure fold the sky above,
greeting those who watch the dance with awe and wonder, and fear.
Does understanding the science of Aurora’s dance lessen the magic of her spell,
or does it make her ever more alluring? Myth and legend some may say,
but Aurora will take us with her
if we whistle for her some cold ethereal night in the snow.”