Solstice Sonnett

A coveted weekday off and balmy (for the middle of December) temperatures were a great way to usher in the official start of Winter, the season of the North.  The shortest day of the year leads to introspection and reflection.  The day's darkness, however, is beautiful because it allows Minneapolis to shine, for the gleaming snow - not yet too dirtied - to light neighborhoods and for streetlights and headlights to illuminate the changing landscape in deep blues and yellows.  I spent the afternoon wandering around Northeast and the North Loop, sipping coffee, taking pictures and finding words to put them to.  

Solstice Sonnett

We dread the shortest days

Yet the darkest moments are beautified by light

The alleyways are packed with snow

More inviting in the cold

Lamps and neon signs glow during the night

And in mid-afternoon when the sun turns to clouds

Here is the shift in the season

The river freezing up on both sides

Of a narrow splinter of water trickling through

I trudge through this North

Observing these changes

And find that taking a moment to appreciate and accept

Is all that it takes

To know the reasons of the seasons