It’s a moment of tall shadows,
the North Pole yawning away from the sun
in the tilt that births the seasons,
announcing winter
like returning robins herald spring
except we shiver in cold silence,
snow across the fields
on the longest night,
Venus in the sky unblinking,
a waxing gibbous moon
glowing to the right of Jupiter
in heavens we only imagine,
being small, earthbound,
tied to fire and family,
hungering for light
in the long shadows.