Night Light

 A Winter Solstice Poem

© 2022 by Joyce Mason

We are light:

universal energy

flickering Godstuff

illuminating the Path to Love.

Ink sky reflects light:
the cusp of winter
the Darkest Night.

Against this backdrop
light pops: the irony of contrasts,
the Yin and Yang of Life.

“You are the Light,”
said Jesus and other wise men.
Once we grasp this, we are Magi.

All the winter celebrations
full of candles, strung with lights:
love spelled out in carols, votives, menorahs,
the Christmas Star and in the Light of Laughter.

When the circuit connects
at the socket of the heart
joined flames have the power to heal
even at the speed of light.

~~~

Photo Credit: © Gorshkov13 | Dreamstime.com

Uncomfortable Beauty

 A  Winter Solstice Poem

Poem © 2021 by Joyce Mason

We dread Winter Solstice. It cuts Day to the chase. It delivers us long-suffering nights. It steals Warmth and leaves behind Darkness, bleak feelings that remind us intuitively of Death.   Winter comfort demands feats of acrobatic energy: piling clothes, blankets and firewood, clapping or blowing on our hands, jumping up and down just to keep our blood running. Winter is one of the closest things to dying we will experience until we do. (We say frozen stiff for a reason.) The Lucky will know many winters.   To find the beauty in struggling with the elements And any force bigger than ourselves, we first have to admit; Comfort is overrated. Comfort is an oasis, a place we must visit as long and often as possible to be healthy and happy. But to live there—to move in permanently— is more than decadent. It is decay.   Winter’s perishable beauty reminds us: constant renewal is Beauty’s core. You cannot have rebirth without death or warmth without cold. Contrast gives these things meaning.   Everything beautiful thing is transient. Each unique snowflake melts before we can barely take in its geometric perfection. Together flakes form blankets, soft white coating on landscapes that hold your breath. Winter takes simple substances like water, freezes it, and turns it into diamonds.   The same winter cold that drives us inside and inward, defines uncomfortable beauty. From this cold we seek the warmth of Love. When our breath is frosted air we are close to the cutting edge of Life where beauty lives, we want to tell each other how we feel to say “I love you” one last time, or perhaps even for the first, before it’s too late.   ~~~ Photo Credit: Wallpaper Pro

 

The Longest Winter

 

 

Poem © 2020 by Joyce Mason

 

We avoided winter like the plague

until a plague gave us a winter so long;

there was no escaping it.

 

We cannot dodge, deny or wish away

the All-Year Winter of 2020.

We cannot avoid the present.

 

The effects that go from zero to death,

the bodies in makeshift morgues,

the devastating symptoms that linger for some.

We can no longer in good conscience escape orders to stay home,

to bask in enough quiet to hear ourselves think,

or to mask whatever smiles we have left.

We live in a prison of care for ourselves and others

with no promise of release short of

a one-year sentence.

Some of us are in solitary.

 

But do we really want a jail break?

To turn down the present,

the gift of an adventure in inner space?

This year, so winter-like, casts its shadow

over the other seasons magnifying all of winter’s qualities,

quadrupled in time to prepare us for what’s next

as our whole world falls apart for reconstruction.

 

Winter prepares us for the energy burst we need

to go from dormant seed to wildflowers

from death and dying to resurrection.

We overlook this season’s benefits for our manic need

to keep moving, duck the least bit of discomfort,

to look away from the ice and snow artwork or

turn a deaf ear to the sanctity of silence.

 

It is time to revel in winter as the Dark before the Light,

the Silent Night of the Soul,

the archetypal step before we save ourselves

and truly create Peace on Earth.

 

In this year of the longest winter,

Jupiter and Saturn conjoin to form a Star of Bethlehem.

History repeats.

Prepare your soul ground.

Your masks, quarantine and centering at home and hearth

are cleansing you, making way for a new epidemic of love.

~~~

Photo Credit:  © Maren Winter| Dreamstime.com

 

 

 

Incubation

A Winter Solstice Poem

© 2019 by Joyce Mason

I have felt you

Deep in the dark

Seeds gather energy in tiny spaces,

Incognito ‘til spring

The pressure intensifying bit by bit

Bursting like fireworks through soil
at the Vernal Equinox.

But you’d never know ‘til then.

The action is invisible above ground.

We are babes in the womb this time of year.

Our winter seeds are review and renewal,

Rest and letting go--

Quiet “just being.”

Seedlings are whole-y,

Inching their way in the dark

To completion.

We need full gestation at its own pace

To have all our fingers, toes and wits about us.

If we don’t incubate bread, it’s half-baked.

If we don’t incubate spiritual renewal

We are simply in the dark, parts of ourselves undeveloped,

Not prepared for the Natural New Year as Pisces turns Aries.

Hug the dark and wear winter like a warm coat.

Protect your growth

and your soul’s full flower.

You’re worth the wait.

~~~

Photo Credit: © VeronV | Dreamstime.com

Winter Wonderland

.

A Winter Solstice Poem

© 2017 by Joyce Mason

They are quiet places,

Beauty and Awe,

retreats from the cyclone of modern life,

invisible churches:

Temples where wonder enters softly

with each in-spiration,

 the power of breath

the power of creation.

Snowflakes fall, children smile, it's palpable:

the eternal warmth of love and family
actual, chosen or imagined.

Seasonal symbols prime the inner song that sings you

into the light of every day.
O, Holy Night.

At this time where countless candles flicker,

we revisit our Light Source,

reborn in Wonder

in tune with our heartsong

and the joining of all hearts beating together:

Peace.

Photo Credit:  © robsonphoto - Fotolia.com

The Coming: A Winter Solstice Meditation

© 2015 by Joyce Mason

Dark illuminates

our inner light

in the holy place

between breaths.

The First, Second

and Eternal Coming

dawn on us

Our Oneness with
Air

Inspiration

Spirit

Timelessness.

Quiet is not just a sanctuary.

It’s the feel of divinity,

the sound of Om,

the taste of sweetness,

the touch of angels and ancestors.

Let us go willingly into the dark

guided by our inward candle.

May the darkest day be just the beginning

of endless Sabbaths,

pauses to catch and be our breath.

May everywhere we go
be a manger of new birth and salvation.

 ~~~

Photo Credits: Defyclassic | Dreamstime.com

Silent Night

 A Winter Solstice Meditation

© 2014 by Joyce Mason 

Silence.

Holy.

Between your thoughts

a winter without words

hums a love song,
a lullaby.

Peace is reborn.

Joy!

Photo Credit: © roger ashford - Fotolia.com

And the Sun Stood Still

 A Winter Solstice Poem

© 2013 by Joyce Mason

All Rights Reserved

And the Sun stood still.

In a moment so magical

it happens only twice a year:

the Sun balanced light and dark
so perfectly
it stopped.

 It invited us

to do the same.

And the Sun stood still.

It turned down the lights
for the long soulful nights ahead.

And the Sun stood still.

Darkest Day

Herald of the Inner Time

your stark beauty

forces us to a window

to look out from inside.

Better to sit before a fire

contemplating our own

spark of the Divine.

And the Sun stood still

to remind us

 we’re each as unique

as a snowflake

yet together

we blanket the world

with beauty--

we are visible
even in the darkness.

And the Sun stood still

to get our attention

to ask us to be quiet
to return

to where all the answers lie

inside us

alone.

And the Sun stood still

so we can see, hear and feel

our heart connection

to every single person

in every carol and candle

and the truth

we already know

the glad tidings
we only have to get quiet enough 

to hear:

Peace on Earth.

Love.

~~~

Photo Credits: Snowflake/Sun:© Leonid Ikan - Fotolia.com 

 Heart Ornament: © soleg - Fotolia.com

Note:  In Latin,  solstice means  sun set still.