An Altar of Sunlight

‘Tonight I’m following
an old sect

their chants interred
in flames

notes that have burned
through millennia.’

An offering at the Altar of Sunlight for the promise of the returning light, this singular, beautiful poem is a hymn to the light photosynthesised by trees, conserved as latent energy which is released upon burning.

An Altar of Sunlight was published in a Winter Solstice Edition of 22, and a special Artist’s Edition of four. Each edition contained the poem printed in burnt umber ink in a beautiful, individually numbered, cahier-stitched pamphlet, sewn with golden thread, coloured endpapers and a loose cover. The Artist’s Edition also contained additional elements, as follows.

— One of four amber jars, each stoppered in a traditional apothecary manner, with a scroll of paper containing a unique handwritten charm:
Jar i. Fragments from a lightning-struck holly
Jar ii. Dried juniper berries and pieces of sun-bleached juniper branches
Jar iii. Shavings from driftwood found on the shore of the North Sea
Jar iv. Dried elderflowers, oak bark and fragments of holly
— One of four glass phials containing a special blend of ‘solar’ incense
— A French silk enclosure containing a signed edition of An Altar of Sunlight
— An Artist’s Edition card

An Altar of Sunlight was republished in 2018 in An Almost-Gone Radiance.