Winter Solstice

Posted on by a quiet walk

Welcome, welcome
the returning of the light

While winter’s grip still holds
we see the promise of spring

As I watch the cold snow from my window
I can almost see the Robin searching among the crocus

The Creator gave us the dark to rest
but I am eager for the light

Come, light a candle of hope
Come, light the fires of love

Come O light of new birth
Come O light of the promise

Come, O Creator with your blessing of light.
Come, see the blessed light

Ruth Jewell, ©December 21, 2021

Image, Ruth Jewell, Sunrise, Edmonds WA, summer 2013

A Winter Walk

Posted on by a quiet walk

snow falling
soft, light, slow
the lightest of breezes
brushes the flakes
against my cheeks

I am walking
to the woods
my steps
leave deep prints
in an unmarked plain

the woods are ahead
white, muted
soft, welcoming

silence, not a bird
the woods are silent
not a sound
except,

yes I hear children
screams of joy
sliding down the
sledding hill
what joy, what joy

I watch as small clumps
of snow fall from
small branches
thumping in the
quiet wood

A chickadee suddenly
sings, Chick-chick-a-dee
in the silence it sounds
like a bell

a fellow walker passes
in silence
we nod and keep walking
unwilling to disturb the silence
of the snowy woods

ah the quiet of a winter wood

Ruth Jewell, ©February 15, 2021
Photographs: Yost Park, Edmonds WA, February 13, 2021, by Ruth Jewell