A Prayer for the Solstice

By Mel Rader

Just for a minute, put away your device…
Forget what you will eat next or who you are angry at …
Contemplate that burning orb in the sky.
If you stare at it long enough, it will actually blind you with its brilliance.

You can try to explain it with equations of nuclear fusion and plasma,
Or write poetry of that drop of god in the abyss of space.

How do you measure the steps in your journey? -
By the number of heartbeats or breaths?
The deaths of your parents or the births of your children?
How many times have you swung around the sun?
How many lives have you lived on this planet?

All the traditions of the world worship that source
that defines the day, and feeds the flora of the land.
What is your relationship with the emperor of light?

I don’t care how much bravado you have,
If you are face to face with the sun
Then you will become particles of nothingness
That feeds its own fire…

So, let us feed our fires first.
Whether we are sickly or healthy,
Light a candle, lay a piece of kindling

Tend the fire inside and build it into a bonfire.
The fire that is your own creation - that you can trust.

Let us make our peace with the cycles of the cosmos.
We can not lasso the sun to slow it down to our pace.
So, mark your calendar for June 20th,
When the warmth of the sun reaches its perfect ripeness,
When we can say hello to that ember of god inside each of us.

I know, I know, there are many cycles…
There can be no light without the darkness.
The sun would have no purpose,
Without all the creation it nourishes.
The sun can fry us into a desiccated husk,
Or bathe us in the warmth we so desperately need…

This is not the only prayer to the Earth or the cosmos,
But let us get this one right.
Get on your knees and prostrate your spirit.
Let the sunlight nourish your cells.
Let the lost and forgotten pieces of your soul come home.
Let us feel our alignment in the cosmos,
And let us notice the fire burning inside us…
There it is, every dawn to every dusk,
the great giver of life…
Let us strive to be worthy
Of such brilliance…