winter solstice 2010

I have a bit of a cold and am feeling under the weather. Our weather, by the way, is chill and snowy. We certainly have the winter wonderland this year and it is so beautiful. Here it is the winter solstice, and the full moon and lunar eclipse all wrapped up in one day. I am still zen-like from my massage this morning and feeling low keyed. But still a welcome back to the light is order, perhaps by poem?

*The Shortest Day*
By Susan Cooper

And 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 now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule!

Luckily there is lots more yule to enjoy, hopefully without my cold.