The long night

Dancing 'round the year, and blessed to be doing so again, because...

On the eve of solstice last night 33 years ago, my life was utterly changed in the slow blink of a tired eye, and I woke in St. Joseph's Hospital in Burbank, California, broken. 

This morning, so many solstices later, I wake in my apartment, with my cat, Mrs. Peel, snugggled close.

I can tell you a story of the times between. 

But first, listen...

AN ARCTIC SOLSTICE

Yes, friends, the darkness grows, but these
short days so celebrate the light:

today the lemon sunrise lasted the few
hours until sunset, all day the frost

glowed hyacinth and lilac on the trees.
Winter’s not a time of black and white,

the sun is not at war with night. Renew
your faith, my friends. We are not lost.

                                                                 by Patricia Monaghan

Not lost.

Solstice blessings to you, and hearts singing.

O come, Emmanuel.

Comments

[Alan Glasscock]

And I am so glad you are still around 33 years later! I can only imagine the water that has flowed beneath that proverbial bridge since then...

I wish you inner peace this holiday season and the coming New Years!

[Sandy]

Beautiful, Laurel. I'm glad you're still with us.

[kim]

We are blessed that your voice, one of the most beautiful and expressive musical sounds, and you are still here. And thanks for your musings, reminiscences and for posting the Cosby clip. So hilarious. Wish you good health and best of the season to you and Mrs. Peel and all in your circle.

[David Bosworth]

Festive greetings from London.

[David Bosworth]

Festive greetings from London.

[Sverre Johan Svendsen]

Thank you for that Laurel. A self-chosen sub-Arctic exile still strives with my SoCal orange grove upbringing: I find the winter dark harder and harder to bear. But these short days do so celebrate the light - thank you for that reminder. And this Christmas holiday has brought with it the decision that our proud companion, English Springer Orion, must leave us. He who climbed mountains, swam rivers and tracked anything is reduced to so much less than that. I know you know how that feels. And thank you for that.
John in Norway

[Laurel Massé]

Yes, I know. My heart is with you.

[Malcolm MacLeod, MD]

Sverre Johann Svendsen:

I feel for your loss. Some British writer wrote, years ago, the best
adieu for beloved animals: "(S)he lived in my eyes, died in my lap,
and is buried in my heart." I am almost always in such a situation.

Malcolm