<\/a>The Shortest Day by Susan Cooper<\/strong><\/p>\nSo the shortest day came, and the year died,<\/p>\n
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world<\/p>\n
Came people singing, dancing,<\/p>\n
To drive the dark away.<\/p>\n
They lighted candles in the winter trees;<\/p>\n
They hung their homes with evergreen;<\/p>\n
They burned beseeching fires all night long<\/p>\n
To keep the year alive,<\/p>\n
And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake<\/p>\n
They shouted, revelling.<\/p>\n
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them<\/p>\n
Echoing behind us – Listen!!<\/p>\n
All the long echoes sing the same delight,<\/p>\n
This shortest day,<\/p>\n
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:<\/p>\n
They carol, feast, give thanks,<\/p>\n
And dearly love their friends,<\/p>\n
And hope for peace.<\/p>\n
And so do we, here, now,<\/p>\n
This year and every year.<\/p>\n
Welcome Yule!!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A poem by Susan Cooper captures the joy of winter solstice. My favourite tree captures the moment. We can…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1797],"tags":[1315,1316,1318,1313,1317],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Winter Solstice ~ The Shortest Day<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n