Full Moon of the Winter Solstice (c) 2010 Martin Liebermann

As I post this, it is the morning of the winter solstice of 2015. Where I live in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the winter solstice officially happens tonight at 11:49 pm, EST. Wherever YOU are, it will happen at a different hour or perhaps the same. Readers of this blog come from all over the world–one of the joys in blogging is seeing the list of countries of readers–and I love imagining the moon going through its magical phases for each of you. Tonight, the solstice. Later this week, a full moon. What more could we want?

These are some of my earliest haiku:

WINTER MOON HAIKU

First published on Poets Online (c) Mary Kendall

Later used as lyrics in “Winter Moon” by Paul Carey, a piece for women’s chorus in (c) 2011.

night snow
boughs dreaming
of first blossoms

Fog filled woods~
even the winter moon
has lost its way

a winter walk
footprints
tell no tales

the blue moon
silently closes the door
upon the year