My Persephone

My Persephone

In my little-girl dreams
besides being a ballerina
I always wanted to be a mother,
to have a beautiful daughter
to love and be loved by,
to play with, sing to, laugh with, read stories to,
share the wonders of earth
and family
to help her learn what it means to be a woman
with all of life’s beauty, sorrow, richness, and joy.
And when you came along,
you were everything I had dreamed
and our life was happy and filled with love.

And then one day
a fissure opened in the earth
where was I, that I did not see?
and, like Persephone,
you were drawn down to the Underworld
and I sometimes despaired of ever seeing you
the real you
again.
With broken heart, for many days I searched for you
until at last one Spring you reappeared
and my heart was filled with leaping joy.

But only for a time. Spring didn’t last
and once more you were pulled away
and my arms and heart were filled with gaping emptiness.

Now
the seasons come and go, and for a time
I glimpse the beauty and the laughter we once knew
and then
you disappear
into that dark place of pain and loss
where I cannot follow

and I can only wait and hope
for Spring to come again.


Persephone, the beautiful daughter of Zeus and Demeter, while gathering flowers in a field one day, was abducted to the Underworld by Hades, who arose in his chariot from a fissure in the ground. Demeter, goddess of the harvest, was heartbroken, and while she wandered the earth in search of her daughter, the crops withered and it became perpetual winter. At length Hades was persuaded to surrender Persephone for one half of every year, the spring and summer seasons when flowers bloom and the earth bears fruit once more. The half-year that she spends in the Underworld coincides with the barren season.