Welcome Solstice!

                                                                                                                                                               

THE SHORTEST DAY BY SUSAN COOPER 

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, reveling.

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 so do we, here, now,

This year and every year.

Welcome Yule!

                                               

 

The Shortest Day

 A most welcome turning of the Great Wheel. May the return of the Light heal our world.

I won't be the only one posting this beautiful poem today. On this Solstice, when we can't gather and celebrate, listen for the echoes from the past, all down the long years, and let their rejoicing fill your hearts.

                                     The Shortest Day

                                                 by Susan Cooper

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.

Learn more about the author and hear the poem read HERE.

Silver on the Tree

Just as many people put on Christmas carols or binge on Hallmark movies or other seasonal entertainment, at this time of year, I seem to find myself re-reading the fantasy sequence The Dark Is Rising.

I blogged about it two years ago but here I am again to sing the praises of this extraordinary quintet of books for younger readers.  (I reread the Narnia books too, every few years.)

Though written in the 1970's and set in England and Wales, now, more than ever, these books are relevant for the Dark is indeed on the rise in our world.

I was struck particularly by an early scene in Silver on the Tree, the final book of the sequence.  A school bully has been tormenting an immigrant boy and when the bully is treated to a bit of his own medicine, the bully's father takes noisy exception. 

"Let them solve their own problems, not come whining over here. What's all that have to do with us? They don't belong here, none of 'em; they should all be thrown out. And if you think they're so bloody marvelous you'd better go live in their lousy countries with them!"

One could hear this tirade most any day on right wing media or on the streets, emboldened as many haters are by the Bigot in Chief.

By the end of the sequence, Merriman/Merlin and deep magic from the past have repelled the present threat of Dark, but the children who have been a crucial part of the battle are left with a warning--which I found especially pertinent:

"For remember...that it is altogether your world now...we have delivered you from evil, but the evil that is inside men is at the last a matter for men to control. The responsibility and the hope and the promise are in your hands--your hands and the hands of the children of all men on this earth. ...the hope is always here, always alive, but only your fierce caring can fan it into a fire to warm the world."

...

 "For Drake is no longer in his hammock, children, nor is Arthur somewhere sleeping, and you may not lie idly expecting the second coming of anybody now, because the world is yours and it is up to you. Now especially since man has the strength to destroy this world. it is the responsibility of man to keep it alive, in all its beauty and marvellous joy."

...

"And the world will still be imperfect, because men are imperfect. Good men will still be killed by bad, or sometimes by other good men, and there will still be pain and disease and famine, anger, and hate. But if you work and care and are watchful...then in the long run, the worse will never, ever triumph over the better. And the gifts put into some...shall light the dark corners of life for all the rest, in so brave a world."

May we all strive to light the dark corners of life, in whatever way we can, with whatever gifts we possess.

The Dark is Rising

In spite of the flurry of holiday preparations, I found myself feeling the need to re-read Susan Cooper's magical stories.

Quoting Psychology Today: "Susan Cooper is one of the few contemporary writers who has the vivid imagination, the narrative powers, and the moral vision that permit her to create the kind of sweeping conflict between good and evil that lies at the heart of all great fantasy. Tolkien had it. So did C.S. Lewis. And Cooper writes in the same tradition."

These are children's books -- though I didn't discover them till I was in my late thirties. And at this time in our country, when it seems that the Dark is indeed rising, they are particularly relevant and deeply comforting.

The series begins with Over Sea, Under Stone. Three children, on holiday with their parents in Cornwall find a copy of an ancient map that mentions King Arthur and Logres. With the help of their mysterious great uncle Merriman, they find themselves on a quest and in combat with the forces of the Dark. 

As their uncle tells them: "'. . . you have heard me talk of Logres. It was the old name for this country, thousands of years ago, in the of days when the struggle between good and evil was more bitter and open than it is now. The struggle goes on all around us, all the time . . . And sometimes one of them seems to be winning and sometimes the other, but neither has ever triumphed altogether. Nor ever will,' he added softly to himself, 'for there is something of each in every man.'"

The second book, The Dark is Rising, begins at the Winter Solstice when " the snow lay thin and apologetic over the world."  This book is where the Sequence really hits its stride,  revealing the Old Magic on every hand in a commonplace world. A hero arises to combat the Dark -- a hero who is the last of the Old Ones and the heir to the Pendragon.

Perfect reading for these gray and apologetic days . . .