Shadows

 

Goddamn Google, don’t put up something so a sad when I’m in such a fragile state! Sunday's Doodle paid tribute to Sudan, believed to be the last northern white rhino born in the wild. I just got weepy, I didn’t even know Sudan, but I knew of him.

Sigh.

The shadows will only get one day longer and then begin back the other way. Solstice eve and the sun burns itself out minutes quicker than yesterday, not as fast as tomorrow. A lot is promised at the end of the year, a lot more to be parceled into the new year. Some people this past year have paid more attention to the days as their normal distractions were hidden. Others only counted toilet paper and body bag as markers. Grief and commodities. They counted anger and lies, disappointment and death. Each day was another breath, another meal, another day still inside a seemingly safe space until no space was safe. Fire, fever, heat, skin color, conspiracy, hurricane, tornado, on top of COVID and food insecurity and loneliness and fear and…well, you’re paying attention, aren’t you?

Be safe, be kind, be careful. Look for a quick day and a long night, look for the planets on the horizon. Happy Solstice. Let’s keep ourselves together and heal, for Sudan.