Alcyone

Words & Music: Phyl Lobl

Based on the Greek Myth of Alcyone and Ceyx, lovers, whose love for each other angered the Gods who destroyed Ceyx’s boat. Grief stricken Alcyone threw herself into the water. Thetis and Aeolus took pity on them both. Thetis, a water goddess, turned them into Kingfishers who bear the name Halcyon to this day and during the winter solstice Aeolus calmed the waters so they could build a nest on the water. Those solstice days are still called the Halcyon days.

When Geri (my most loved) was dying he asked what Halcyon meant , I said I thought it meant peaceful. The day he asked me was June 22, our Winter Solstice, a day on which he said he felt peaceful and not many days before his death. This sent me in search of the story behind Halcyon Days and a way to look at grief.