Rubaiyat for Yule

Published in the December 2020 issues of the Crown Prints

A Rubaiyat for Yule

The darkness grows as winter lingers on.
What strength can lift the weight that presses down?
A laugh, a word in kindness giv’n, a hope
The light can find its way, a prayer for dawn.

Alone, afraid, through dark we blindly grope
to find a hand somewhere within our scope
But then a spark flames forth in Winter’s night
a dancing light that bids us not to mope.

The Yule log burns, reminds us that the light
Will come again, that Spring will Winter smite.
We toast, and sing, and drown thereby the dark
That presses in. We raise our voices bright.

This longest night we each give forth our spark.
Ignite the flame of hope that all may mark
Though shadows glow’r, the light is never gone.
It waits for us a new year to embark.

— Mistress Mary Dedwydd verch Gwallter