winter solstice

You walk in the embrace of the
winter solstice,
wrapped over your shoulders
around your neck
and tucked snugly into your overcoat.

Into the long night you go,
eyes up
chest high
face first into the wind and the snow.

Others, behind windows and doors,
warm fires at their backs,
see you walking down the center of the street
- in and out of the shadows of the street lamps -
and are worried
and excited
and long to set just one foot out.

What lies at the end of that street?
Who waits at the break of this long night?

And you know.
Nothing. Everything.

It's the night that needs walking.

eph 12/21/06
for my dad whose birthday is the solstice