The Turning

Three days past the longest night.

The sun begins its return—

not visibly yet, not warmly,

but in principle. A promise kept

by physics rather than gods.

The Earth tilts on its axis

exactly as it has

for four billion years.

No intention. No comfort offered.

Just the fact of continuation.

In the Northern Hemisphere,

today is thirty seconds longer

than three days ago.

You cannot feel thirty seconds.

You can only trust the math.

Somewhere, light falls on a window

that was dark at this hour yesterday.

Someone notices, or doesn't.

The light doesn't require an audience.

It falls because it falls.