Solstice and Sunlight

The Winter Solstice in Canberra is on Thursday, 21 June 2018 at 8:07pm AEST.

After the Winter solstice the days get longer, and the day has therefore been celebrated in many cultures as a time of rebirth.

“In the Southern Hemisphere the Winter solstice, also called Hibernal solstice, is the moment when the path of the Sun in the sky is farthest north. At the Winter solstice the Sun travels the shortest path through the sky, and that day therefore has the least daylight and the longest night.”

“When the Winter solstice happens in the Southern Hemisphere, the South Pole is inclined about 23.4° away from the Sun, with its vertical rays are overhead at their northernmost position, the Tropic of Cancer (23°27′ N).”

“According to the astronomical definition of the seasons, the Winter solstice marks the beginning of the season of winter, which lasts until the vernal equinox (September 22 or 23).”

On the shortest day

on the shortest day i lie in the sun
 but feel the shade sweep over me
 hoping the dark will turn to light
 and that chance might four-leaf-clover me

this sun through glass has kept me here
 and belief in tasks worth doing
 but suppose that jobs are over now
 the agendas changed or going

suppose a canker is really inside
 not cured by sunshine at all
 where will we be – my friends and i
 when the long summer evenings call

it’s not in a bottle, not in a pill
 and not in these fears of mine:
 it’s on the breath and in the soul
 where even the sun can’t shine

if contentment comes but once a year
 when the shortest day is now over
 it might after all be just enough
 – and time will grow the clover



gg    21/6/2008