I think Hurdity meant to put shorter nights not days
My favourite Shortest Day poem
And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule!
Susan Cooper, The Shortest Day
Mind you I don't actually like to think that we are at the shortest day as, unlike Hurdity, the thought that the darker days are behind me doesn't gladden my heart - I haven't had my Winter yet... again.... lol.
Taz x
