GIFTS
Season of symbols and mellow thoughtfulness
welcoming angel of the returning sun;
nurturing in your cold dark stillness
holly branches bearing blood red berries; their shiny dark leaves
tipped with a sharp pain that tells of life¹s sweet sorrows.
And ivy creepers binding all as we are bound to each other and to the earth.
Old fir cones lying on the forest floor,
the seeds of new life gone; scattered into the future.
Bright stars beaming light from the distant past illuminating our present.
Gifts of Earth and Sky; symbols from long ago
of a festival to celebrate new life and the rebirth of peace.
Corinne Whitby
Solstice 2004
