Savor the early darkness

How the days and months seem to have melted away. Melted away from dawns to darkest evenings that arrive earlier each day. We are now approaching the “darkest evening of the year,” as one of our favorite American poets, Robert Frost, mentioned in his poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” The beginning of winter.

In November it was a pleasure to contemplate the gradual early arrival of darkness and the accompanying warmth and coziness of being at home with early supper and early to bed. And what would I read on these lovely long nights of comforting darkness? It would be fascinating to read about the ways our ancestors tried to banish the dark and bring light to their lives. Light brought to them by their campfires giving them warmth, torches to keep away the predators as they sat close about their fires when gathering for protection.

I always wonder if early man had time to gaze into the fire and gain a brief moment of joy and peace and relief from his never-ending hunt for food and warm clothing for his very brief survival. Now, as we approach the time of the winter solstice, Dec. 21, I hope that there will be time to slow down and give thanks for this amazing world in which we live and perhaps even spend some time with friends, not discussing “what a terrible state the world is in” but what each of us might do to improve, in a very small way, our lives and the lives of others. The darkest evenings of the year give us time to slow down, stop chasing the latest sales and substitute thanks for what there is right now. Perhaps practicing kindness would be a good place to begin as we feel the joy of giving ourselves to others. It is so easy. Like melting.

Edith Maynard

Lake Barrington