Winter Solstice

One imagines dancing,
a bonfire,
a celebration that light will begin
it’s climb back,
that the nights will become shorter
and the sun will shine more each day.

There is a raucousness to it,
a release, knowing they have survived the dark nights,
the cold.
The dark enemy who threatened them,
who each night nibbled into their sense of safety,
into their joy and hope and promise
has finally weakened it grip
on their days.

There is joy, madness even,
that now, for a while at least,
each day brings new light,
that God can protect them a little less,
and let his light each day do the work.

but in a dark corner of the grove,
there is one broken by the night,
still trembling,
tears down their face
reflecting the wild firelight,
broken by a dark too long
for survival.

For while some survive the long night,
some do not.

About this poem

It’s a hard season for some. Reach out to those broken or nearly broken. Your love is their light.

My son took this picture last winter.

Tom