Solstice Song
 bury me in ashes
 bury me in bone
 bury me in mountainland
 a thousand miles from home
  
 bury me the depth of my height
 the width of my wonderment and want
  
 toss yellowed roses onto freshdug mound
 let each poet stand and speak one single syllable
 unutterable truth
  
 for I have lived my seasons each
 daffodil iris spring
 have splashed in summer lake
 worn crown of buttercup
 walked auburn carpet leaves under slatestorm sky
 I have
 and now I come into my winter
  
 each day 
      shorter, each night 
 deeper, and the air 
 stings my cheek
     burns my lung
  
 so I retreat within walls of wood and stone
 sit within fire’s glow, pull duvet close
  
 darkness, an invitation to dream
 a sky full of stars
 infinite possibility of night
   memories … reveries
      reflections … ruminations
 circle growing smaller
 until it encompasses only my skin, my soul
  
 lodged within me deep
 the husks of yesteryear
 daughter   student   lover     aupair     wife
       teacher   mother   poet
 each layer adding to my soil
  
 this winter though is not to be my last
 my trunk has not withered, my roots 
 run deep in richbrown ground, my branches 
 still bear fruit and the secret of bee in blossom 
 whispers yet within my ear
  
 and in this moment
 when the southern-third basks in golden light
 now is my starfilled night
  
 snow in moon’s blueglow
 wonderfilled reveries, muted hush
  
 by ember’s glow do I take refuge
 seeds within will germinate again
 in the humus of leaves cast, petals dropped
  
 and soon, oh soon, the axis will tilt 
 and we will journey closer to the face
 of the glorious sun
  
 but until that moment comes
  
 bury me in ashes
 bury me in bone
 bury me in mountainland
 a thousand miles from home 

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a pearl in this diamond world … Josephine LoRe has published two collections:  ‘Unity’ and the Calgary Herald Bestseller ‘The Cowichan Series’.  Her words have been read on stage, put to music, danced to, and integrated into visual art.  They appear in anthologies and literary journals across nine countries. https://www.josephinelorepoet.com/