So the shortest day came,
And the year died,
And everywhere down the centuries
of the
Snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the
winter trees;
They hung their homes with
evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all
night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year's sunshine
blazed awake
They shouted, reveling.
Through all the frosty ages you
can hear them
Echoing, behind us - listen!
All the long echoes sing the same
delight,
This shortest day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping
land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
and hope for peace.
And so do we, here, now -
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule!
~Susan Cooper
