Winter Solstice

The longest night of the year… dark hours stretch unending before her, unyielding, unforgiving of this emptiness within. The loneliness seems to compound with each new moment hidden from the light, it builds within her, a pressure in need of release. Yet, where does she find such release… relief… room to breathe again? She wonders to herself just how long she has roamed, unable to pinpoint the beginning, unable to foresee an end. It has somehow become a part of her, this abyss beneath her breath.

Yet, now and then there is a soft stream of light, a ray of sun, the gentle glow of the moon … or maybe just the tail of a comet as it streaks through her world, rocking her, messing with her equilibrium, her sense of place. She closes her eyes at a sudden memory, of a glimpse once caught, the gentlest eyes she has ever seen. A gaze which tore at her substance, stirring feelings never before awakened. She sees those eyes everywhere, they call to her, captivate her, will not release her.

Desperately she looks for other eyes, failing miserably to refocus her heart and its attention. She clings to words, works of art which affect her deeply, yet cannot draw her away. She searches for new spaces, hoping perhaps a change in geography will make the difference. She wanders the earth in search of hope, in an attempt to find a new source of light, of heat. There is no rhyme or reason to this chase of hers, this expedition of the soul. There is no promise that she will find that union she longs for, that recognition. Nothing that will erase the memory of those eyes, nothing will fill the void they leave in her world. For in those beautiful eyes she saw her light, and when they looked away, darkness fell upon her world… she waits for them to shine on her again, knowing that with them returns the sun.