...settling in for a long winters nap

 

The shortest day of the year has drawn in upon itself and the long period of darkness prevails. Winter has begun. It's 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 lays in deep bluish purple shadows across the snow..no mistaking the time of year. No warmth to the sun, no promise of the lengthening days that are to come. I wonder, does the world stand, poised, as it used to, in anticipation of winter solstice? I think not.

Light, energy, flash, boom and roar of a manmade kind shatters most landscapes. Matters not if they be woodlands or pavement...humans have arrived, claiming 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 the 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.