Let’s toast with mulled cider to the curtailed day

Reflection as new beginnings make way

Warmth beside yule logs that burn and smolder

An evergreen wreath lines the doorway

The sun’s lifeforce secedes and the air grows colder

Luminaries lit, candles burn in their holders

The glow is low, elongated shadows are seen

Appearing to stand still in the eye of beholders

Fur coats thicken on foxes and wolverine

Plants lie dormant, conserving til’ spring

24-hours of darkness in the north

Feasts before famine was the old routine

Fermented wine and beer and slow roast

Ice thickens and bears rest in comatose

Marked by Stonehenge’s trilithon, so grandiose

Late December when Fall comes to a close

• Amy Pinney, who grew up in Juneau, loves to write about the Alaskan lifestyle and celebrates our four seasons including the cold and dark northern solstice.