Theme for Week 23 Lyrical Sunday: Solstice

Today marks the Winter Solstice in New Zealand. As we see in the shortest day of the year we think of our friends and family in the Northern Hemisphere enjoying the longest day of the year. So this Sunday, 26 June, it would be wonderful if you’d join us with a poem that marks the Solstice and what it means to you.

How did you spend the shortest/longest day of the year? Does it have any special significance or meaning to you?

Here’s a Winter Solstice Poem I came across from Living the Wheel of the Year (UK) website (there’s lots of other poems and inspiration to be found there too):

THE TREE CIRCLE AT WINTER SOLSTICE

Bare branches, last year’s activities shed,
wind whipping in haphazard gusts,
the tree circle sits starkly on the winter horizon,
fulfilling the time of rest,
rejoicing in renewal.

In the dark earth, mother womb,
elements co-mingle,
roots are silently sustained by the past:
leaf turned to soil,
rock reclaimed as mineral.

A living grove, memory deep
within its cells, the tree circle
patterns the shout of YES,
a new cycle beginning,
the ascent of light.

Winter Solstice 2003

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