Summer Solstice - My
Midsummer Dream
Sweet summer comes in June and I will be
Underneath the sun, for I’m awaiting
Midsummer dreams and my own chance to see
Magical small beings out creating
Enchantment at the setting of the sun!
Radiance can catch a wee fairy’s eye
So stones in a circle could attract one.
Objects shiny too might make one less shy!
Longer is this day, so before the night,
Sugared fruits I’ll put out too, then await
The fairies and stay awake till daylight
In case one comes. Oh, wouldn’t that be great!
Come dawn, I’ll watch sun climb high and higher
Eastward, and there I'll see the sky catch fire.
By Andrea Dietrich (a poem for Vivi)
In the Northern Hemisphere, the Summer Solstice
occurs on June 21st and in terms of daylight is the longest day of
the year and consequently the shortest night.
In certain cultures, legend has it that fairies and other magical
creatures inhabit the night enchanting lovers as they sleep.
Their dreamworld is filled with orgasmic fantasy. In anticipation of twilight and the dream state, the sun
seems to stand still creating a perpetual sunset.
 |
| Midsummer Eve by Edward Hughes |
The sun sits low,
Diffusing its usual glow.
Five o’clock,
Twilight…
Vespers sound,
And it’s six o’clock,
Twilight
All around.
But the sun sits low,
As low as it’s going to go.
Eight o’clock…
Twilight…
How enthralling!
It’s nine o’clock…
Twilight…
Slowly crawling
Toward—
Ten o’clock…
Twilight…
Cricket’s calling…
The vespers ring,
The nightingale’s waiting to sing,
The rest of us wait on a string.
Perpetual sunset
Is rather an unsettling thing.
By Stephen Sondheim
 |
| Perpetual sunset at Merry Mount |
Twilight on Summer Solstice
As the golden light fades in the west,
And robins return to their nests,
Frogs and toads begin their songs,
Dragonflies and crickets buzz along.
Frogs and toads begin their songs,
Dragonflies and crickets buzz along.
Thousands of fireflies appear,
Are the fairies near?
Anticipation and delight,
Midsummer Night's Dream is tonight!
Anticipation and delight,
Midsummer Night's Dream is tonight!
 |
| The Reconciliation of Oberon and Titania by Sir Joseph Noel Paton |
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended:
That you have but slumbered here,
While these visions did appear;
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend.
If you pardon, we will mend.
Think but this, and all is mended:
That you have but slumbered here,
While these visions did appear;
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend.
If you pardon, we will mend.
From Shakespeare’s A
Midsummer Night’s Dream
Between the dusk of a summer night
Between the dusk of a summer night
And the dawn of a summer day,
We caught at a mood as it passed in flight,
And we bade it stoop and stay.
And what with the dawn of night began
With the dusk of day was done;
For that is the way of woman and man,
When a hazard has made them one.
Arc upon arc, from shade to shine,
The World went thundering free;
And what was his errand but hers and mine --
The lords of him, I and she?
O, it's die we must, but it's live we can,
And the marvel of earth and sun
Is all for the joy of woman and man
And the longing that makes them one.
And the dawn of a summer day,
We caught at a mood as it passed in flight,
And we bade it stoop and stay.
And what with the dawn of night began
With the dusk of day was done;
For that is the way of woman and man,
When a hazard has made them one.
Arc upon arc, from shade to shine,
The World went thundering free;
And what was his errand but hers and mine --
The lords of him, I and she?
O, it's die we must, but it's live we can,
And the marvel of earth and sun
Is all for the joy of woman and man
And the longing that makes them one.
By William Earnest Henley
Enjoy the magic of Summer Solstice!
CPW
Thanks for reminding us of the magic of solstice, Pat!
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