Summer's Here and the Time is Right

For dancing in the streets: the summer solstice arrives on Sunday, June 20, 8:57 PM EDT. The pessimist in me warns that the days will grow shorter, the sun will slowly start sinking further in the south, the zenith will decline, and soon the fall will come. Can someone shut him up?

The solstice is of course a celebration of life. It’s also known as “Alban Heflin, Alben Heruin, All-couples day, Feast of Epona, Feast of St. John the Baptist, Feill-Sheathain, Gathering Day, Johannistag, Litha, Midsummer, Sonnwend, Thing-Tide, Vestalia, etc.”

Scientifically, at the solstice the sun's apparent position on the celestial sphere reaches its greatest distance above the celestial equator, about 23 1/2° of arc. At the time of summer solstice the sun is directly overhead at noon at the Tropic of Cancer.

But here’s my take on these events:

June

A week before the solstice strikes
you can almost feel the earth
slow down. Its magnitude of green,
despite its latitude of mirth,
presses down upon the brake
and fern with rippled opaque
shadows. The grass begins to burn
with driving light while a mustang
gallops, its top turned down and soul
musical wop lop the whole shebang
plays high above the carousel
of solar motion, parallel
to longitudes of shorter nights.
We’re fortunate it does slow down.
The damage done is that much less
than if the planet hit the town
with guns held high and aimed to shoot
the moon without a parachute,
forgetting that the rest of us
are getting more forgetful with
each resurrection than before.
Instead, the world supplies its myth
and we the people bring the beer,
then down the tilted hemisphere.

“But Ancient Pagans celebrated Midsummer with bonfires. "It was the night of fire festivals and of love magic, of love oracles and divination. It had to do with lovers and predictions, when pairs of lovers would jump through the luck-bringing flames..." It was believed that the crops would grow as high as the couples were able to jump. Through the fire's power, "...maidens would find out about their future husband, and spirits and demons were banished." Another function of bonfires was to generate sympathetic magic: giving a boost to the sun's energy so that it would remain potent throughout the rest of the growing season and guarantee a plentiful harvest.”

But I'll be celebrating Father's Day with my daughter. I can't think of any better way to celebrate life.