North

 

She is hard to find in the day

and often flares as a different star, shining

on the river's bend or between the rails

of a roadside fence. Her  gleam like a compass rose

pale gold and pulsating in the right spot. Or sometimes, she stands

 at the edge of the field when the first quail calls, white gowned

and dangling a drinking gourd  from  her hand. Her cotton cool

and hanging loose like the homespun shirts or  frocks

of those shepherds who appear then disappear

in the dusk. Their names left unspoken, their guidance

freely given. And sometimes, she appears in a dream,  

a reindeer tuning the wind with her horns,  finding the most

favorable way to blend and forage.
__________________________________________

North refers to both the direction in this poem and the north star - a guide for runaway slaves seeking their freedom out of the South. Throughout the poem, she is personified with allusions to the Big Dipper which was known in slave songs as "the drinking gourd" and "shepherds" , another name for the station agents of the underground railroad who helped guide them safely from one point to another, each playing a brief role in the journey. And in some legends, the north star comes as some kind of deer in a dream testing or tuning the wind for the most advantageous direction to migrate, feed and survive.