On This Longest Night

Blessed be the darkness

that allows the stars

to shine so bright

in the velvet sky of winter

when the world draws in its breath

and waits.

O’ Ancient Ones

who keep watch

on this longest winter night -

teach me to

trust this darkness,

to sink my roots

into mystery,

to find wisdom,

in the waiting.

Let me learn

from the sleeping earth

how rest is not empty.

Let me be the evergreen,

draped in emerald boughs,

offering sharp needled hope,

that awakens the skin.

Let me dance in the dark,

like the candle flame

that flickers across

my walls.

Let me remember

that dawn stitches

her golden gown

to every midnight.

And as the Great Wheel turns,

let me carry forward

the gifts of this holy dark.

Patience.

Renewal.

And the quiet certainty of spring.