Winter Solstice

Winter Solstice

A season of pregnant stillness.

Winter solstice approaches
and the nights now
outlast the days,
while the gray clouds
hug the hillsides
as they dust decaying leaves
with powdery ice crystals.

The Earth is soggy,
saturated and fecund,
full of water and biomass.
The air smells sweet
and still carries a hint
of summer's humid touch.

What does it mean
to be alive in the winter?

I walk Simon
through quiet city streets
marveling at his talent
for finding things to smell
in this frozen landscape.

There's something subtle happening
even with death so close at hand.
All of our holidays and rituals
seem to be ways of saying:
So be it.

---

Our experiences of the Solstice
depends entirely upon
where we are when it occurs.
Neither Solstice encompasses everyone.
Neither can.
The Solstices stand forever opposed,
literally at the two poles
of our Earth and experiences.
~ Gary Zukav