Written for the Christmas Revels in 1975 by Susan Cooper
And so the Shortest Day came
and the year died.
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
came people singing, dancing
to drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees.
They hung their home with evergreen.
They burned beseeching fires all night long
to keep the year alive.
And when the New Year's sunhing blazed awake they shouted!
Revelling!
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them echoing behind us.
Listen!
All the long echoes sing the same delight this Shortest Day.
As promise wakens in the sleeping land
they carol, feast, give thanks
and dearly love their friends.
And hope for peace. And so do we!
Here, now, this year and every year.
Welcome Yule!