Earth Is Our Example

There is a flame we each must tend.
Fan the fire too heavily and its brightness will blind us.
Neglect the flame, and it will smolder and smoke.
Kindled gently and regularly, a path is illuminated.

Earth demonstrates balance of light
turning back from the brightness on the summer solstice
and beginning to seek more warmth on the winter solstice
never reaching too extreme an end,
never losing course.

How best can we learn to make these crucial reversals within ourselves?
What signposts can we lay, reminders that it is time to turn back?

May the days of the solstice,
changes in the seasons,
the sun on our skin,
the quiet darkness of the night
be reminders to tend our fires,
quieting them when they blaze too fiercely
and feeding them when they dwindle.

May we enjoy times of balance,
when light and dark are in equal measure;
and may we return here often in all aspects of our lives.