The sun a spark

"The days are short,
The sun a spark,
Hung thin between
The dark and dark."
- John Updike

“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."
- Susan Cooper

Midwinter's Day or Yule.

It gets better from now on...