Winter Solstice

Image from The Sunrise Blogger

Driving down the arrow-straight road

I'm blinded by the sudden flash

in my rear-view mirror.

The burning disc,

orange flame

rises over low eastern hills,

I  look away

into the dim west,

to the moon,

setting cool and deep,

hovering low

over Jamison Canyon,

soft

in the blue morning.

It was smaller

when I saw it last night

hanging high

over my gleaming roof.

Then the moon owned the night

and drenched the grey lawns

with mystic light

transformed

our pale houses,

into windy mythic temples,

sheltering whispering shades.

Now the fierce sun claims

his wide, waiting world

as the supple moon

coolly descends;

But for a moment

across the brightening sky,

they gaze like lovers

from horizons in equilibrium,

in this perfect movement

of time.

(12/21/2010)

Winter Solstice

Drive the narrow road
past cold
misty vineyards;

peer carefully
through pulsing wipers,
past jeweled beads
smeared to curving trails.

Look
into the glaring eye
of traffic.

Swinging around
tight bends
cars pass you,
throwing
sheets
of driving
rain.

Hold tightly to your wheel!
Keep your lane.
Do not descend
into the flooded gutter;

for on the western edge
in darkly glowing cobalt
the declining sun,
leans towards longer southern days.

Night
has begun,

the longest night
of the year.

(19 December 2010)