December Views .:. Day 21 Solstice

Half-Light

Short days of winter now, and the sunlight neglects my garden.
This afternoon I pulled out last summer's tomato vines,
frostbitten and slimy to the touch.
Dead stems broken off at the soil
too frozen for the roots to be moved.

I remembered when my mother explained
that from the shortest day 
onward to spring
the light would stay longer and longer.
My brother and I would stand out in the snow
silent by the back door
aching toes 
and wait for dusk to fall,
record the time in a book
we called Secret.

It was February before we noticed a longer day
and by April
we had forgotten the vigil.

Now I stand
in the dusk again, and recall how
if we had not kept watch that winter

the darkness might never have lifted.

-Liz Kalloch

Comments

[jin]

Wonderful writing, Liz. Maybe if both keep watch this time, the longer days will come even sooner. xxx

[darlene]

oh ... so beautiful!