Showing posts with label solstice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label solstice. Show all posts

Solstice 2023

I greeted the Sun empty-handed
worn out from too long nights
spent counting out collected griefs
from near and far.

The Sun gave me Her gift

of the light I could not hide from
illuminating who I was
and asking what I wanted to be
the morning that light came back 
into the world.






Liner Notes for this Groove: This poem is linked to Poets and Storytellers United Friday Writings. 

Thoughts on Your Birthday

I wanted to tell you
how I fell in love again
with the sun on solstice morning.
Her warmth pulled me back
to myself and all the living
I have yet to do.

I miss you most in these moments,
when I’d share
another ridiculous whimsy of mine
and you’d take it as seriously
as a selkie takes the ocean.

Maybe this is why you called me Joy.
That never made sense to me.
It wasn't as much joy as survival.

I know the limits of my moth-eaten memory
and no matter what well-meaning people say
it isn’t the same as you still being alive at all,
not even a little.

I am left making up stories instead
about the sun and the stars 
caring enough to watch me

scavenge strands of joy
from the little moments of living,
in the hopes of weaving something beautiful
enough to honor who you were.




Liner Notes for this Groove: Today is the birthday of a friend of mine who passed away. These were just thoughts I had about it. 

Solstice Song


Its music finds a way to seep into my soul, whether I am surrounded by the concrete spires of a city or enveloped by the scent of fresh cut pine and balsam on a bonfire.

Tonight is no different.

It is a song composed on lines of moonlight and spaces of shadow, played on the strings woven around my spirit and connecting me to the land, the sea, the crisp night air and the fire in the stars. There is healing offered here, if I don’t refuse its call, if I am willing to stop and be still. I pull on my coat, succumbing to the melody.

A break in the clouds gives me the view I need and at once I become moon drunk—giddy, warm and immune to this solstice night’s chill. I drink in more of the moon’s wild brew, find the most passionate stars to affix to my tenderest places and help guide me back to the place where I find aspirations still untarnished by disappointments.

That is when I add to the song, delighting in the harmony between the moon and me. We sing until morning, when I rise, spent but knowing I shall grow stronger along with the newborn sun.  





This prose poetry piece was inspired by the picture at the Sunday Muse #35, Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie’s SundayWriting Prompt, and the wordles at Sunday’s Whirligig #193 and the Sunday’s Whirl Wordle 383.


Song Choice: Music of the Night performed by Andre Rieu


Notes from the Real World: Even when I was a kid I've been drawn to the changing of the seasons. Being more of a warm weather person, you might think it'd be funny that I'd love the winter solstice, but I've always felt a little lift in my heart, knowing the longest night was behind me, and ahead of me was a new year. This year, I had the distinct delight of being part of a solstice gathering with a group of friends, and by the time the evening concluded I felt a lightening of my spirit that I hadn't felt in a long while.