Happy Solstice!

It’s the Winter Solstice today (at least, in the Northern Hemisphere), so here’s a poem. Enjoy, and have a wonderful holiday!

At Deepest Night

I
for the
solar birth
have thirsted long,
my soul light-famined
as a tall barren birch
not yet quickening with sap.
Candles, golden, resined,
awaken the air,
while branch-bones shake
outside and rain
smashes
hard
as if
Gods’ vessels
have overturned
to purify us.
Lightless Nyx holds her court;
Hêlios will wax anew.
I am thirsty; I pour
fragrant libations,
lips humming hymns.
Incense smoke
softly
speaks,
flames dance,
and stillness
deep as the lake
Mnêmosynê rules
brings memories to light:
each winter night the dark sky
opened as we processed,
torches in our hands,
down to Circle,
dirt-packed stairs
bound by
grooved
old wood,
bonfire warm,
forest beyond
dripping with shadows.
Each solstice processes
year to year as time measures
the span of my own life,
a count unbroken
until the last
when our Sun
shudders
open
at death.
Yet now, I
light incense, sing,
deathless Hêlios
much more than any star,
our orbital dance just one
initiation rite
among so many,
as night descends,
as day breaks,
my thirst
quenched.

🌅