Shortest Day  by Susan Cooper

So the Shortest Day came and the year died 

And everywhere down the centuries of the snow‐white world 

Came people singing, dancing, 

To drive the dark away. 

They lighted candles in the winter trees; 

They hung their homes with evergreen; 

They burned beseeching fires all night long 

To keep the year alive. 

And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake 

They shouted, reveling. 

Through all the frosty ages you can hear them 

Echoing behind us ‐ listen! 

All the long echoes, sing the same delight, 

This Shortest Day, 

As promise wakens in the sleeping land: 

They carol, feast, give thanks, 

And dearly love their friends, 

And hope for peace. 

And so do we, here, now, 

This year and every year. 

Welcome Yule!

I love this poem by Susan Cooper. For me, it perfectly caresses the moment of the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere: cold and crisp with darkness outweighing light. But also the hope, the expectation that there is light on the horizon, that there will be more light in our lives, that there will be more warmth in our lives—if only we can find our way through this cold darkness. Those sentiments, those hopes seem particularly apt this year.

Good Solstice to one and all! Welcome Yule!!

Grianstad an Gheimhridh to my Gaelic friends who led me to this poem.

Wesołych Świąt to my Polish-American family and friends who bring light and warmth into my live.