"Humankind has to get back to the rhythm of the Cosmos"
                                                                         D. H. Lawrence 

In midsummer’s solstice rite
light triumphs over dark.
The sun-king in his glorious prime
climbs to his highest mark.
In turn the darkness will advance,
begin another round of dance
across the celestial arc.

Within rhythm’s easy fluxion
destruction is prescribed.
All things come to reduction,
from corruption all things rise.,
To the beat of a joyous reel
the endless turning of the wheel
binds that which all things comprise.

Written in night sky the reasons
seasons must turn in their dance.
Unmaking old and making new,
few permutations left to chance.
All things have their opposite,
thus may all life procreate
and perpetuate the sequence.

Now for this cycle’s generation
consummation is the goal.
Partners move, station to station
in formation around the pole.
Every egg and seed and spore
carries within its living core
a unique segment of the whole.

The Making and Unmaking Dance is a summer solstice poem which will eventually form part of my cosmos cycle "The Eightfold Year." I do know of certain pagan traditions which hold a ceremony called The Making and Unmaking dance but my use of it as a title here is a bit of poetic licence. I do not know if it is actually a summer solstice rite. (As a poet it is not always wise to constrict oneself within literal interpretations.) At this time of year, as the sun passes its apex and begins the decline a few minutes in any garden will confirm that pollenating is in full spate while a careless walk through a secluded stretch of woodland is likely to disturb a human couple joined in their exclusive pollenation rite. All living things want to get in on this act.

There are so many legends, parables, and folk tales attached to the summer solstice it would be futile to list any in a brief note such as this. The essence of them all is that as one cycle begins to wind down the seeds of the next are being sown.

OTHER PAGAN POEMS FROM THE SAME SEQUENCE.
Fires of Love
Three Secrets
Dancing With The Dead
Equinox
Solstice Fires
Imbolc