Mount Tam (Anima Urbis)

Here I sit on the head of Mount Tam,
Might as well be in Vietnam --
The battle is coming soon.
The stars are hid, but the sky is grey
With the lights of the City that rings the Bay
In the shape of a crescent moon.

So if there be anything here
That cometh not in the name of the Powers of Light
Then in the name of the Powers of Light let it be gone!

Cities live. The stones have soul
As long as one dweller stands up whole,
And here are three million lives.
Their spirits run through the nerves of wire,
Through the concrete bones and the furnace-fire --
The body of stone survives.

Warnings groan that the deep-plate crack
Will shake one burden from Earth's green back --
Tonight one of us goes down.
So here we fight with our wizards' force,
To shift the Fault on its other course
And swallow the Southern crown.

We who feel the currents of power
Have no rest in the darkening hour
Of a war that we did not choose.
But if one city must fall to brine,
I swear that city shall not be mine.
I do not intend to lose.

So aim the bolt, and raise the shield --
The choice is cruel, but we dare not yield
When life is the prize of war.
San Andreas, we curse your name
As we strike your Fault with our silent flame
And deflect and deflect once more!

So if there be anything here
That cometh not in the name of the Powers of Light
Then in the name of the Powers of Light let it be gone!
Let it be gone!
Let it be gone!