3 Reasons to be cheerful

Reason to be cheerful 1

Well, there aren’t many at the moment, but today is significant. Today I want to share 3 reasons to be cheerful with you. Because today marks the end of the dark days, albeit literally rather than figuratively – given the news that changes hourly.

The winter solstice is here and the world turns again. Have a look at The Old Farmer’s Almanac if you want more on this. It’s a great place to find solstice sites from all over the world.

So, it’s downhill to spring from here! That’s a reason to be cheerful for me, and although I’ve written many poems about nature, that is not where this is going…

Reason to be cheerful 2

Because I want to share some words about the Festive season – another reason to be cheerful. As a (fairly) miserable teenager I wrote a lovely poem called ‘Christmas Child’ that reflected how ‘faith’ might offer hope (for some). Here are some lines from it:

Weep no more, my child.
In naked innocence, your eyes
Do not see this morn,
Stolen by cold technology.
Go blithely now, see the sun of ages gone
Weave joy in the barren arches of their souls,
And in the reflection of a love once given,
One man,
Shall dry the tears of the lost.
Weep no more, my child.

I did say I was a fairly miserable teenager 😊. It feels at times that getting back some kind of faith, in whatever suits you, might help us through these difficult times. It feels like we are living in something like C. S. Lewis’s ‘shadow lands’ where the sun is always shining somewhere else. There’s a lovely web site about him for anyone interested, at Biography.

Back to the poems

This is more ‘do as I say’ rather than ‘do as I do’ because many years later, I wrote an even less cheerful one, even though I am a more cheerful adult than I was a teenager.

This one, ‘Christmas: A Caution of Thought’ took some Christmas carols and reversed their sentiment. See if you can spot them. There are 5 in this extract:

In this, the bleakest of mid winters,
There is only discontent.
No halls are decked, no one (is) jolly,
No deep and dreamless seep, no silent stars –
Only clouds go by.
In this unholy, noisy night
Where 21^st century bedlam pervades,
With its 24/7 retail cultural void.
All is not calm.
All is not quiet.
The white noise of the internet echoing in real time.
Hark. What heralds singing?
The sky is riven with jumbos flying,
They’ve chased away the holy choir.
Hallelujah indeed.
Hosanna in extremis.

Reason to be cheerful 3

I want to end this post on a high, and so reason three takes us back to the start. The season turns, and the days are getting lighter. Time to look forward to next year and the hope it will bring with some words from a longer poem (Awakening) about spring:

Now we all turn as one,
To an awakening.
The dawn of the year.
Life,
A package,
Signed, sealed and delivered.
To us.

Please email me from my web site at Poetry for Lives if you wish to read more of the poems, or just to get in touch about your 3 reasons to be cheerful.

I wish all a happy and healthy festive season. See you all in the New Year!