SOLSTICE PERIL

 

Bravado grows

as light increases each day

dominating the dark

 

Invulnerability takes root

without sense of mortality

The bones strengthen in such

enduring sunlight

No fear of brittleness

or fragility

 

We forget

there is an end

to this

 

Blinded by pervasive light

we don’t see

darkness hiding

lurking

shrunken but persistent

 

Denial so easily nurtured

when light sweeps away

all that is shadowed

on this Solstice day

 

Perhaps there is no Shadow

after all

No hidden underworld realm

a wisp of memory

 

We could easily be deluded

in such long light.

 

While in Southern polar realms

on this very day

continuous darkness begins

 

  From Howling with Gratitude and Grief: Poetry by Glenn Siegel. Glenn is an Illuman Elder and a leader in the Illuman of the Ozarks chapter.