A poem for the winter solstice

 

Winter Solstice

 

Welcome to the shortest day of the year

The heart of the long, dark winter of the soul

When you don’t feel whole,

When the bowl is empty and the bole is bare

And a bear roars up at the stars somewhere

In deepest memories

That arc through the blood

Reigniting fear

As the year burns out and the world spins on

And the purpose of light is forgotten in the night.

 

Amanda Kendal 21 December 2021

Photo: DreamyPixel

Summer solstice … bone and stone and feather

Rosary

Bone and stone and feather

Leaf and stick and shell,

Scent of purple heather

Sound of ocean swell.

Green of grass below me

Blue of skies above,

Iced beck burbling freely

Cooing of a dove.

Thunder up in heaven

Drizzle in the breeze,

Kronking of the raven

Snow upon the trees.

Swooping murmuration

Swirling Northern Lights

Swifts’ airborne gyration,

Bumble bee in flight.

Fledgling’s hungry calling

Curlew’s haunting cry,

Wind through grasses rushing

Breeze’s gentle sigh.

Mist through woods now pouring

Ghost of breath in air,

Sun in azure soaring

Moon in ink set fair.

Bone and stone and feather

Leaf and stick and shell,

Whatever be the weather

Such things will keep me well.