A SONG FOR SOLSTICE

With all of the things you have learned

from your long journeying,

with all of your heartache

that taught you to love and to cry,

and with all of your dreaming

that helped you to live,

with that same loving heart and merry laugh

that has brought you to the ocean's shore,

come out at dusk and celebrate 

the full cold moon

at the place where the tide 

kisses the tombolo,

then runs away, laughing.

Yesterday morning's dawn

approached as pink and fresh 

as a young maiden

singing the new day in.

Tonight shows itself 

as a wise old woman

with knowing smile,

tapping her cane and hobbling.

But she still remembers 

her dancing feet,

she remembers,

and, in her heart,

she is still dancing

across the beloved landscape

with joy.

You grew your soul

all green with wilderness

and wild with wolf-breath,

in a forest of great and ancient

tree beings

breathing peace.

You owe them

your every breath,

each one their gift

to us.

The journey has been astonishing,

magical; 

it has brought you
here,
to the edge
of the sea.

And now you are looking at

those far, snow-capped mountains.

The echo of the heron's call

and wild wolfsong at midnight

will keep you here a while.

The tree trunks you hug

breathe their smiles at you;

they whisper,

"we waited for you, friend,

for all these many years."

The sea sings your soul-song,

the only song you ever knew.

It sang you out of the desert

and over the mountain pass

to the wild shores

of Clayoquot Sound.

It has carried you so far,

and it is singing, still.

Come out at dusk

to meet me

on the shortest day,

in the place where

 the tide 

kisses the tombolo,

then runs away, laughing.

Let earth and sky

inform your grateful heart

that, finally and forever,

you are Home.

A poem that came to me in a rush, as I contemplated this year's winter Solstice on December 21st, the actual moment being 2:23 p.m. Pacific time. There will be a Full Cold Moon that night, and the next, as we enter winter's dark, restful time.