The Solstice Door

The light is coming and I wish you well... Behind the running, running man the land Lies silent, fallow, haunted by the cry Of one lone mourning rook who flies alone Inscribing solemn circles in the sky There is no time to take a backward look Just running, running, running, running blind He leaves the flowered garlands that she wove With ribbons bright, with summer’s love, behind He runs with only hope in empty hands All faint of heart, with life blood running cold The chill of winter earth beneath his feet All water turned to ice in frozen fold All out of breath with minutes yet to live He runs, through elder grove and stand of yew Runs, seeking for the ancient Solstice door Described in tales the bards and ancients knew ‘Till suddenly he stumbles on a glade All silent where no wild bird wheels or calls And in the glade there stands a single stone And on the ground a moon dark shadow falls And there, within the shadow’s light he sees That which before him other men have found A stairway leading down in to the earth A dark descending path in to the ground No way but down now, this the only way He gathers one last breath, and full of fear Goes down the old and foot worn ancient steps That lead towards the portal of the year How dark the endless steps of winter’s stair That shadow down, down to the Solstice door To where, beneath the door a chink of light Hints soft and bright across the cold stone floor He sits upon the bottom step to rest Reflect, and contemplate the year behind And lo, she comes, bedecked in leaves and fruit And dancing, dancing, through his weary mind Forget me not, she sings; I am still here I wait for you, for life to shift and stir And through the keyhole and the chink there blows A fragrant waft of birch and silver fir Reviving, blessing, soft upon his face The promise of new life upon her breath Touched by her grace he weeps upon the step For she has saved him with her love from death Another year dies, another lives He sits and waits; she watches from afar And as he waits the light in darkness shifts And creaks the ancient Solstice Door ajar… by Gail