Mused - the BellaOnline Literary Review - Winter Solstice 2016

Sometimes it seems as if winter quotes make winter out to be a necessary evil which exists only for us to appreciate the subsequent warmth. Shelley: "If winter comes, can spring be far behind?" Shakespeare: "Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this sun of York." Hugo: "Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face." But winter is far more than a down against which to compare the subsequent ups. Winter is a powerful, magical time. It is a season of strength. Of looking inward and finding focus. Bob Seger stated, "I write probably 80 percent of my stuff over the winter." Terri Guillemets reminds us, "The color of springtime is in the flowers; the color of winter is in the imagination." The Winter Solstice is a time to embrace the mysterious. The endless possibilities. The sense that we already have, within ourselves, boundless creativity and opportunity. We simply have to still ourselves and listen.