'The Door of Winter Stands Ajar...'

We sit in the deep night,
the cold midwinter sun fled from our skies,

And all around the frost creeps and cracks,
sparkles in the deepening the dark.

And yet another year has spun around us.

The longest night,
emboldened with a sweeping swathe of milky stars,
And a perfect crescent mother moon
cradled in a bed of cloud, alone in the bitter sky.

And as the night draws deeper round us,
like a friendly whispering ghost,
we light a candle
and smile and nod to one another,

For now the door of winter stands ajar,
with a promise of returning light.