Dalit Berkowitz

Yesterday was the longest day of the year.

And today it will be seconds shorter.

Gain and loss. Loss and gain.

And again and again.

Maybe again really is a gain? Like in the classic films of Olivia De Haviland and Bette Davis and they would always pronounce it “a gain.” That used to distract me, but maybe there is a salve there. Here.

Is there anything that cannot be lost or gained? Is there any such entity that isn’t rattled by the rhythms of cause, effect or the general tides of our earth’s turning?

The summer solstice has officially left the building.

I still want to grasp it. Hold it. Have it be my lifelong friend.

But I don’t think that’s how it works on this planet.

Pause.

It’s surrender time. A/gain.

I can remember a different quality of light, whose beams are beyond the whims of condition, whose beams know no tampering.

My infinite friend: Compassion.

You are the one that cannot abandon me no matter the calendar.

No matter the winds.

You are my gentle companion, eternal flame.

The light of compassion is the sun of my heart.