LONG NIGHT

Light up every tallow wick, and let flame leap ‘top candlestick
Tonight is night of fun and merry dancing,
Strike up pipes and limerick with lutes and harps of music thick,
This is Solstice, time of festive prancing.

Gather people near to you, close friends and folk, of old and new,
And lead them to the floor to drink and dance,
And when night covers morning dew, that shall be your chosen hue,
To frolic in the night’s sweet winds of chance.

Solstice is of merry cheer, the longest night of passing year,
A time of changing friendship or of sorrow,
A change not just of seasons here, but also one of love and tear,
A fresh beginning for yon tomorrow

And so we come to celebrate, this changing time of twisting fate,
And share a merry laugh and happy tale,
And as we dance at frenzied rate, and thank the god’s for gift’s of great,
Outside begets a fresh new winter’s gale

So raise your voice to heaven’s height, upon this happy Solstice night,
And forget about your worries and your fear,
For choices made; wrong or right, unheeded now in happy light,
Matter not as now begins a fresh new year.

Bardic
January, 1998