Winter Solstice, Brigitte Lopez
A homeless man dies in the gutter.
A tree cracks in the cold:
A shocking sound.At the winter solstice, the day is shortest of all and night is longest. It can also be the time of bitter cold. The wind blows with a frigid ferocity, cutting all before it. Snow and ice became deadly. Those who are homeless die of exposure. Even the mightiest of trees can split from the drop in temperature.
The sound of a tree snapping is a sudden slap.
The horrors, the tragedies that this nadir brings! Winter tortures the world with icy whips, and those who are weak are ground beneath its glacial heels. Sometimes, we dare not even lament those who die in the onslaught of winter, in fear that the tears will freeze upon our faces. But we see, and hear. Huddling closer to the fire, we vow to survive.
No matter how affected we are by misfortune, we must remember that this is the lowest turn of the wheel. Things cannot forever go downward. There are limits to everything — even the cold, and the darkness, and the wind, and the dying.
They call this the first day of winter, but actually it is the beginning of winter’s death. From this day on, we can look forward to warming and brightening.
“In the depths of winter I finally learned there was in me an invincible summer” — Albert Camus
“Sometimes our fate resembles a fruit tree in winter. Who would think that those branches would turn green again and blossom, but we hope it, we know it.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure in the
landscape – the loneliness of it – the dead feeling of winter.
Something waits beneath it – the whole story doesn’t show.
– Andrew Wyeth
Of winter’s lifeless world each tree
Now seems a perfect part;
Yet each one holds summer’s secret
Deep down within its heart.
— Charles G. Stater
There aren’t many signs of winter yet here in SoCal – the roses are still blooming a bit, the sun is shining, if very far to the south, the grass is green and while many of the trees have lost their leaves, there are no breaking branches. We enjoy living here, where it is rarely very cold and usually the weather is simply wonderful. There is a joke about San Diego that you get “paid in sunshine”. There must be a lot of really well-paid people here to afford these houses, though.
But there are a dozen birds outside my window fighting over the feeder, so food supplies must be running a bit scarce for the birds. There are few insects around for them to eat. The nights are chilled enough to frost the leaves on many of the plants. And I certainly am feeling seasonally lazy, not wanting to do much other than curl up with a book or something.
I used to dread winter’s short days and get seasonal affect disorder, but now I don’t seem to suffer much at all in winter. Sometimes I get annoyed that it’s cold and gray and I can’t be out in the garden, but the garden is sleeping for the most part anyway and there isn’t much to be done. So it all works out.
But my family has suffered the tragedy of winter this year. My cousin’s wife was killed on Thanksgiving day while driving in white out conditions in Michigan. They were broadsided by a pickup truck, and she died instantly. I also lost an aunt December 6th, to the winter of her life. She did not have the strength for the heart surgery that might have saved her. So we have our losses. But we carry on, and will be glad once again for the return of spring.
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