Summer Solstice

The Summer Solstice occurs today, the moment during the year when the sun is at its highest point in the sky, marking the beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere and the day with the most daylight. In New York City, we can expect more than 15 hours of daylight.

Take a moment if you can to think about the change in seasons brought about by astronomical happenings, by the Earth's tilt and the changing relative positions of the Earth and Sun. Think about the power of the Sun--its light and the heat that warms the Earth and brings forth life and Earth's bounty. And in this moment of honoring the Sun, we also know that from this point the days will become shorter and we begin our transition towards darkness.

The Sun
by Mary Oliver

Have you ever seen
anything
in your life
more wonderful

than the way the sun,
every evening,
relaxed and easy,
floats toward the horizon
and into the clouds or the hills,
or the rumpled sea,
and is gone–
and how it slides again
out of the blackness,
every morning,
on the other side of the world,
like a red flower
streaming upward on its heavenly oils,
say, on a morning in early summer,
at its perfect imperial distance–
and have you ever felt for anything
such wild love–
do you think there is anywhere, in any language,
a word billowing enough
for the pleasure
that fills you,
as the sun
reaches out,
as it warms you
as you stand there,
empty-handed–
or have you too
turned from this world–

or have you too
gone crazy
for power,
for things?

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