12/20/20
Tomorrow, on Monday, December 21, 5:02 A.M. EST, the winter solstice arrives marking the first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the day with the fewest hours of sunlight in the whole year.
Above me the sun and the moon
and endless cycles
from solstice to equinox and round
which tell me when to work
and when to rest
the days are short
this one’s bright
but I am feeling old and dull
and working makes my day feel long
cold wet wind and sky flow in
and I taste it on its journey to my lungs and out
the sheep here breathed it first
we’ll share some molecules
at the edge of this winter forest
at the edge
that makes me a thing with horns
at the edge of this rain
at the edge of this short dark day
of damp leaves and wet places
at the edge of living and not
where the hedgehogs rustle
and things rot
and fungus thrives
and my shadow shortens
and week becomes month
becomes year
becomes life
at the edge I remember to remember
to have compassion
and I feel connected again
the changing seasons change everything
everything cancels out everything else
the sound of everything at once is silence
the colour of every colour at once is white.
-Marc Hamer, from How to Catch a Mole, (pgs. 82 & 83)
Healing Heart
Here, time is moving
In quiet breaths and
In the long, slow turn of seasons.
Here, the pain of love’s arrow,
Once scarlet,
Fades to memory.
Here, the sigh of tides
And fall's surrender into snow
Mark a white forgetting.
Here, layers of wonder
And the heart’s gentle song
Call us out again
into the morning
into the light.
Robert Bode
Here, on the evening of Dec. 21, Jupiter and Saturn will seem to inch incredibly close to each other, looking like one single bright star. In reality, they will be hundreds of millions of miles apart. When two celestial objects closely approach each other in the sky, astronomers call it a conjunction.
A "Christmas star" will light up the sky on this December Solstice, a rare "double planet" event that hasn't been seen since the Middle Ages. These two planets have not appeared to be this close together from Earth’s vantage point since predawn March 4, 1226.
Star Light, Star Bright
Star light, star bright, The first star I see tonight; I wish I may, I wish I might, Have the wish I wish tonight.
Winter Solstice
Stop and Observe.
Discover the moments
between Winter and Summer.
Embrace the perpetual change.
The distance between
two points in time
is always
Now.
Here, Now, on the edge, I wish for silence and for white.
CPW
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