The shortest day of the years has drawn in upon itself and the long period of darkness prevails. Winter has begun. It has been practicing for it's appearance for several weeks now. The dark winter sky arches velvet black above me, sprinkled with pinpoint diamonds of light. There is a glimmer and shimmer to the quality of the air, as I shiver taking in the night.

The sun of late afternoon lay in deep bluish purple shadows across the snow..no mistaking the time of year. No warmth to the sun, no real promise of the lengthing days that are to come. I wonder, does the world stand, poised, as it used to, in anticipation of the winter solstice? I think not.

Light and energy, flash, and boom and roar of the manmade kind shatters most landscapes. Matters not if they be woodlands or pavement...humans have arrived to claim them all. To find a woods on a snowy night, to have a horse and sleigh to find it with, to watch the woods fill up with snow...no, I don't think so. But the miles to go before we sleep, and the promises to keep..that we still have.

I find solace in one promise the earth keeps for us...fulfill the time of darkness and then turn towards the light. We must remember..turn towards the light. This quarter of the year, so recently turned from autumn to winter, may lie at hand, but it begins with the shortest of all days, and slides continously toward the light. Light that balances the darkness always, and has it's moment of glory on the opposite side of the year.