This is the tent-pole of heaven, the shaman’s tree 
 or the ash tree Yggdrasil. Or it may be a deity, 
 K’uei, for instance, the one-legged dancing master 
 who twirls on his single foot at the center of space 
 to set the stars in motion, and time’s wheel turning. 
 Or Siva, dancing the dance of creation. 
  
 	                                                                    North 
 is more than cold. Wherever winter nights 
 are long and the Dipper wheels high in the sky, 
 too high for setting, the sovereignty of time 
 lies with neither sun nor moon: it dwells 
 in the mysterious core about which time turns.