It approaches quietly and without explanation
Without fanfare and without celebration
The longest night seeps into the bones
Each heart beating, weeping, seeking
There is no way to celebarate the light
Unless we face the reality of the darkest night
For a season, for a time, the darkness seems to win
As it creeps into the daytime hours, the light, the life
In the darkness we hear the fears, the pain, the whispers
The hidden parts of who we are strain and bend and ache
As the dark makes us, bends us, reshapes us
Tries to define what we will be and the future we will make
The longest night lingers but cannot stay
Try as it might, the light will always break through
The longest night will stretch and grow
And feel almost unending, as the night goes on and on
But the promise remains that the light will come
The night will end as it always has
And in the breaking light we will find again
Our reasons for laughter our reasons for life
Our reasons to dance and to sing and to shine
The longest night beaten by the shortest day
The darkest night broken by a single ray of light
The smallest speck of sun and the darkness quakes