<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><p class="ydp5e53194fyiv1834164985MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;" class="">The Shortest Day </span><b class=""></b></p><span lang="EN-US" class="">So the shortest day came, and the year died,<br class="">And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world<br class="">Came people singing, dancing,<br class="">To drive the dark away.<br class="">They lighted candles in the winter trees;<br class="">They hung their homes with evergreen;<br class="">They burned beseeching fires all night long<br class="">To keep the year alive,<br class="">And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake<br class="">They shouted, reveling.<br class="">Through all the frosty ages you can hear them<br class="">Echoing behind us—Listen!!<br class="">All the long echoes sing the same delight,<br class="">This shortest day,<br class="">As promise wakens in the sleeping land:<br class="">They carol, feast, give thanks,<br class="">And dearly love their friends,<br class="">And hope for peace.<br class="">And so do we, here, now,<br class="">This year and every year.<br class="">Welcome Yule!</span><div class=""><span lang="EN-US" class=""><br class=""> - Susan Cooper</span></div></div></body></html>