When I started this solstice project writing and posting through short winter days allowed me to see beauty in the dark and focus my busy heart on the glint, glimmer and shadow. I love the summer sensations so much I found it harder to roost my words in the moments of lingering light. The songs of my childhood heart beat loudest in June. Now that the longest day has passed I find a sinking sadness that the days of 2012 are shorter from here on out. I will have to recommit to making the effort to find the image, see the word, and hear the light in all of its variations.
Take your busy heart to the art museum and the
chamber of commerce
but take it also to the forest.
The song you heard singing in the leaf when you
were a child
is singing still.
-- Mary Oliver, from What Can I Say
Take your busy heart to the art museum and thechamber of commerce
but take it also to the forest.
The song you heard singing in the leaf when you
were a child
is singing still.
-- Mary Oliver, from What Can I Say
Catherine,
On the first day of your 2012 solstice I offered an entry, hence on this final day it seems fitting to contribute my perspective on the "sinking sadness" of the waning light. Cycles are nature's harmonics, which we witness in many ways. This has allowed me to reminisce about a similar cycle we witnessed in the Amazon last year. The annual 50 foot rise and fall of the Amazon River is almost exactly synchronous with the two solstices. The wet season begins in late December and the Amazon rises to its peak flood level by the end on June, then recedes back to its lowest (dryest)level in late December. These are the only two cycles in this region. Much like the fullness and shallow of the moon, the harmonics of nature retain similar patterns. Thanks for your annual insights; while we witness sameness, as the year before and in similar places, its always a new and amazingly different experience each and every year. Bets wishes in our next cycle of life.
So beautifully written! Thanks for another season of sharing your thoughts. They are a treasure. I look forward to seeing you here.
that is a gorgeous vase, gorgeous plant, gorgeous photo to round out your gorgeous series. I have enjoyed it.