Midsummer Day Poem by Gert Strydom

In Sweden people today celebrate
a pagan feast
on the midsummer day
and snaps and beer,
are taken from early on
as one of the rites of May.

Unmarried girls sleep
with bouquets of seven different flowers
under their pillows
and hope to dream,
of their future spouse
or lover.

It is thought that magic
is at its most powerful today
and tonight rituals are performed,
to look into the future
.
a Pole is raised
as a symbol of fertility
and people dance,
around the midsommarstang
and like in a trance
they are swept away with passion.