Somehow I never got around to posting my Summer Solstice (June 20, 2021) poem and photos, but since Great Mara Day is coming right up (midway between Solstice and harvest end in the Latvian calendar) I thought I should squeeze it in! The photos were taken at various times around mid-summer, some of them from a rainy day just before. Through June we had pleasant days with a good amount of rain. After that days turned hotter (with a long spell of above average days and nights) and less rain than we are used to for July- along with smoky skies from distant wildfires! Those fresh green moist days of June seem so far away!
Fecund hopeful midsummer days, as
Saule reaches her Northern Journey's end.
Twilight lingers late,
to a chorus of insects, frogs, and birds
working hard through long days and warm nights.
Thunderstorms gather, wander by, or linger,
rumbling, shaking, drenching
sun soaked soil or chilly nights.
A verdant flood covers meadow and wood
painted with drifts of flowers,
humming with a million wings,
alive with crawling, running, chewing, mating
egg-laying, young rearing, grazing, browsing, hunting.
All the stories, all the struggles,
all the business of life-
compressed,
into a few months of warmth and food.
Glorious, riotous, with just a touch of-
desperation.
Hurry, hurry, only so many warm days before
Sun turns to head South, again,
and nights once more fall long, and cold.
Last year's Summer Solstice post for more thoughts on the subject
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