"The days are short,
The sun a spark,
Hung thin between
The dark and dark."
- John Updike
Ghost-grey the fall of night.
Ice-bound the lane,
Lone in the dying light
Flits he again;
Lurking where shadows steal.
Perched in his coat of blood,
Man’s homestead at his heel.
Death-still the wood.
Odd restless child; it's dark;
All wings are flown
But this one wizard’s - hark!
Stone clapped on stone!
Changeling and solitary.
Secret and sharp and small,
Flits he from tree to tree,
Calling on all.
- Walter De La Mere, The Robin
It is Yule, Montol, Brumalia, Lohri, Yalda, Koliada, Dongzhi, Midwinter's Day [whatever you choose to call it], the Winter Solstice - the longest night - today.
Good news, however - the days get longer from here on!
Roll on Spring...
