MIDSUMMER
The downslide of the year
Starts today
This very dawn,
After
The burning of the Solstice.

The spring bow slackens,
We, who have been
Hurtled
Out of our winter space
Into the fury
Of the fiery trail,
Blazoned
By the rising moons
And scorching suns,
Pause,
Panting
In the summer heat
Of our own chase
As deer
Fleeing from the hunter,
Sensing
The unspent arrow
Already lodged
In our winter hearts.

We smell the dying year
In the falling blossom,
A million Elder stars
Lying in the muddy earth
Faces upturned
To the blue heavens
Out of which they fell -
Scent and decay

Merging
In the midsummer air.
We sit sleek
In the summer shade
Of our spring efforts
Grazing
On the meadow
Grateful
For this moment of rest,
Allowed to grow fat
On the grasslands
Of our inner landscape,
Storing
The warm strength.
So that the sun ripened heart
May still shine
With summer glory
When the nights of winter
Return us
To our empty caves
To wait, hungry,
For the call of the new spring
Re-calling
The echo of the hero's journey
Trailing its melody
Through our cold thoughts,
Haunting our souls
Like the birdsongs of summer
With their migrating
Refrains
When the new year
Stirs us
Once again.