Happy solstice!

Merry Christmas and Happy Solstice -- welcoming the return of light. Here's something from Dan Ladinsky's The Gift, a Hafiz poem that to me is the spirit of this season:

We
Are not
In pursuit of formalities
Or fake religious
Laws,

For through the stairway of existence
We have come to God's
Door.

We are
People who need to love, because
Love is the soul's life,

Love is simply creation's greatest joy.

Through
The stairway of existence,
O, through the stairway of existence, Hafiz

Have
You now come,
Have we all now come to
The Beloved's
Door.