# [Poetry Unbound](https://poetryunbound.substack.com/)

Hello and happy solstice, friends, and thank you, Pádraig, for this luminous prompt on this luminous day.

I cannot recall one specific summer solstice, but what the word conjures is the summertime freedom of youth, a day long enough to contain everything: swimming in the sea, laughter, worries left at the shore, a perfect book, rosé, and the all-encompassing lust of summer. And then, when the day had given all it had, a campfire crackling under an endless canopy of stars, a guitar, friends lying back scanning the sky for shooting stars, young love burning as brightly as the flames. As brightly as those stars. The night so wide and generous it felt like it would never close. Wishing you all a day long enough to contain everything.

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## Comments

### [Lisa Marie Simmons](https://substack.com/profile/9772959-lisa-marie-simmons?utm_source=substack-feed-item)
[3d](https://poetryunbound.substack.com/p/solstice-stories/comment/280070967 "Jun 21, 2026, 5:45 AM")  
"... the all-encompassing lust of summer" - yes....

### [Anne Pender](https://substack.com/profile/95128510-anne-pender?utm_source=substack-feed-item)
[3d](https://poetryunbound.substack.com/p/solstice-stories/comment/280076737 "Jun 21, 2026, 6:09 AM")  
Awesome!!

### [Deb Bonham](https://substack.com/profile/310487424-deb-bonham?utm_source=substack-feed-item)  
[3d](https://poetryunbound.substack.com/p/solstice-stories/comment/280090894 "Jun 21, 2026, 7:02 AM")  
I love this line, “all encompassing lust of summer.” This was such a beautiful piece to read over and over. Happy Solstice, Lisa Marie ☀️

### [Penelope Blackwood](https://substack.com/profile/504091642-penelope-blackwood?utm_source=substack-feed-item)
[3d](https://poetryunbound.substack.com/p/solstice-stories/comment/280474152 "Jun 21, 2026, 9:45 PM")  
Thank you Penelope! I hope yours was gorgeous.

### [Kathleen Yeadon](https://substack.com/profile/27069391-kathleen-yeadon?utm_source=substack-feed-item)
[2d](https://poetryunbound.substack.com/p/solstice-stories/comment/280937744 "Jun 22, 2026, 5:00 PM")  
A day long enough to contain everything. Great phrase to describe summer!

### [Margaret Taylor Kane](https://substack.com/profile/63981603-margaret-taylor-kane?utm_source=substack-feed-item)
[2d](https://poetryunbound.substack.com/p/solstice-stories/comment/280622984 "Jun 22, 2026, 7:05 AM")  
I love your word capture of this day of transition. Perhaps Symbolically the fire is an extension of the light that we cherish perhaps.