A Solstice Song
I woke up at 6:00am. It was pitch dark. Part of me wanted to stay in bed and wait out the darkness. Even the birds and the squirrels had not yet broken the silence of the night. But darkness invited me into it.
Today was the shortest, darkest day of the year. There is a tendency for us to rejoice in this turning point. We can now look forward to the days getting continually longer until we return to the summer light.
Touch the Dark
But before you begin to hope for brightness, I invite you to join me this shadow side of light and touch its face the way a blind person would. Feel the bumps and curves and explore every contour until you would recognize it if you touched it again.
The darkness is worth getting to know because …. When you look at something long enough, the shadows begin to fade and the ugliness becomes familiar and appreciation takes the place of reprehension.
The darkness is just one side of the Universe, filled with wonders yet to be discovered and that can be exciting if we allow it.
The spell broke
As it got closer to 7:00, the sky began to fill with the growl of metal giants ripping away the smoothness of the silence. The noise of passing cars joined the rumble of the jet engines and the spell that the black quiet had me under broke long before the day would.
I was glad that I had accepted the invitation into darkness for those brief moments. I even find myself missing it a little now which is surprising as I had initially wanted to stay in sleep and wait out the dark.
Perhaps next time I will be the one to invite in the dark.