On the eve of the winter solstice and the cosmic illusion of the “Christmas Star” that Jupiter and Saturn will provide this week, I went back to a poem I wrote a couple of years ago that found new life this year, thanks to my friend, composer Taylor Scott Davis, who used an adaptation of the text in an amazing choral piece that was premiered two weeks ago by VOCES8. It also makes an appearance in my book The Color of Together.
Tonight, it is here once more.
solstice
come sit in the dark with me
and look at that moon that
is so at home in the night
let us reach deep into the
pockets of our souls for
scraps of hope and wonder
come gaze at the firefly
stars flinging their light
lay back on the blanket of
dead leaves and sleeping soil
oh, that we had a ladder to
make a consolation of ourselves
a constellation of ourselves
come sing our favorite song
softly into this silent night that
welcomes the first day of winter
the one about being together
come sit in the dark with me
Peace,
Milton
“Making a consolation of ourselves” might mean standing arm-in-arm, lost in the wonder of shared compassion.
If so, it’s what you’ve always offered to us takers.