21 Jun Ode to the Summer Solstice – From now the days get shorter

Summer Solstice

Basking in the long evening shadows of the longest day of the year, on June 21. The Summer Solstice is a celebration of light across the Northern Hemisphere.

From now, the days will draw shorter

But it is also bittersweet.
Because from today, the days will grow progressively shorter. The light will draw down, and the harvest will be taken in. The trees will shed their leaves, the squirrels horde their winter stock of nuts. And the Earth will shutter itself and hibernate.

What makes it bearable is that we know that it is a cycle and that we have only to make it until the Winter Solstice and we will be able to watch the Earth wake up again.

The grass will once again get green. The birds will tweet. Bunnies will be born. Irises will bloom.

But what if it doesn’t?

What if the cycle breaks? And the birds do not return? And the crops miss their natural temperature cues? And the bees are all dead? And the trees stay barren?

What if we are running out of time?