Happy Solstice-Knowing the Dark

 Happy Solstice!  Of all the rituals, events and reasons for celebrating this time of year--the winter solstice is truly the one I love the most.  That one long night marks the start of the days slowly getting longer--a time to embrace the dark with the knowledge that brighter days are just around the corner.  Usually its cold and bleak outside--not warm and balmy like today--so its nice to have a  reminder to celebrate this season of dark.  A time for reflection and planning; with each passing day getting brighter and longer.  Enjoy this poem by Wendell Berry--and enjoy the slow waning of darkness:

To Know the Dark

To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.

To know the dark, go dark.   Go without sight,

and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,

and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.