For Hannah, On Her Birthday

This is a poem my dear friend Kayci just sent to me today. She has been gestating this expression for the past week, since the day we put Hannah to sleep, which did happen to be the Summer Solstice.

"For Hannah, On Her Birthday"

Today is the day the sun stands still,

The real meaning of solstice

This longest day

Is really the end of light’s reign

A last hurrah

Before darkness makes its comeback

While on the other side of this world

Night is loosening its grip

Hannah knows it, by name

This life’s orbit, too, is palindromic

The beginning and end meet in the middle with a stutter-step

Zenith or nadir, you choose

Or see if you can hold both to your chest at once,

Folding eternity down the middle

The astronomer peers through her instrument

To a remote universe

And what she sees, now,

Is really an event of the distant past

As for the solstice, well

Every day, the sun is standing still

Dear Hannah

Let darkness come; there is nothing to fear

Perception is illusion

Truth is not a single star, but a constellation

We come from celestial zest

And we shall return to it