Winter Solstice - A Meditation

Winter Solstice - A Meditation

I read somewhere that the Renaissance could have only occurred because the Dark Ages happened first

Like black earth, the seeds of those new ideas were planted in the years of shadow that came before
And this makes sense looking back, but what about all those in the centuries of darkness prior - never seeing their own lives broken open like a pomegranate, blood red with life, shared together staining their hands and the dirt beneath their finger nails

We watch you through the trees as you rise - the inky sky, stained indigo around you
And as the sun disappears, you bring us gifts of shadow and silhouette
We stand on the edge of the frozen lake, December in our mouths, the cold stinging our face,
We think of all the homes we’ve ever lived in, far away from them now,
But you, keeper of time and blessings, you see us here, and know us
And as the light leaves, you pull yourself over us like a shawl, like a heavy quilt
and remind us that contrast is what draws our eyes into a picture

May the same gravity that sways the Earth into Solstice, also sway you into joy
May the same darkness that covers the sky, also cover you like soil over a seed
May the same patience that the world has known for a billion winters, be with you also as you wait
May you remember -
you may be cold now, but you will be warm again
you may be shadowed now, but you will be bright again
you may be sullen now, but you will be exuberant again

The Earth orchestrates a pact between the light and the dark,
the two of them shaking, their hands stained with pomegranate juice
They look each other in the eye, and each of them whispers their promise -

First comes ice and cold, all hopes hovering in the magnificent dark
and Second comes the heat and light, all bodies lingering in the lengthening days

Creation. Creation. Creation. All of it. Just not as you would expect

No Renaissance without the Dark Ages they said, as they dug their red fingers into the ground