They say you are a fragile soul,
Darted away from the glade of your childhood,
By the wretched lord of the underworld,
But is it true?
But isn't it me, who saw,
Saw you and him,
Amongst the efflorescence of the narcissus,
Whispering words of exalted love,
Both lost in ecstasy.
They said that you were a girl too naive,
Captured against her will,
But he never did ruin you but worshipped you as his queen,
What is the truth?
But isn't it me, who saw,
The flame of passion in those irises black,
Your lithe form blessed his eyes,
And his blessed thine.
They say that you were wronged,
Forced into an alliance dark,
Compelled to eat the seven faithful seeds of the pomegranates dark as blood.
Is it true?
But isn't it me, who saw,
You picking the blossoms with your mates,
He hiding amongst the olive thickets,
Looking at the other yet never speaking,
Both hearts romping in the merriment.
They say that you were a girl content,
Complacent with her place,
Joyous to be quelled,
A forgotten goddess outweighed by a mother great.
But isn't it me, who saw,
Saw with him your greatness,
As your feet fell upon the soil,
Bestowing life and sustenance,
The ichor of yours urging to be hailed.
They say that you, O Persephone,
Never found peace,
The gloomy and dismal underworld never suited your presence,
Yet you are bound to Hades by a union coerced and vile.
But isn't it me, who saw,
Who saw you in his arms,
The radiance that stemmed,
Broke the darkness of the underworld.
If this ain't love,
I know not it is,
If Hades hadn't loved truly,
Then who in the world did?
***
Note; Persephone & Hades
According to mythology, Hades, the god of the Underworld, fell in love with beautiful Persephone when he saw her picking flowers one day in a meadow. He then carried her off to live with him in the dark underworld.
His brother Zeus consented to the marriage-or at least refused to oppose it. Yet he warned Hades that Demeter would never approve this coupling, for she would not want her daughter spirited off to a sunless world.
In the Underworld, Persephone had grown to love Hades, who treated her with compassion and loved her as his Queen. As she would have up in Olympus, she remained eternally beautiful in the Underworld. Hades admired her kind and nurturing nature.
I have a soft corner for this unlikely couple. I think that the myth does not do justice to display the love, the affection that the two share. I think that Hades was the only Grecian God who actually loved his wife (he never had any known extramarital affairs according to most accounts).
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Forgotten ✓
Poetry"My heart resides in these pages." A collection of nonfiction poetry about the magnificent and benevolent gods of the past told through the eyes of a mortal girl millions of years younger than them. "What I hate, is the smallness of mind, the lack...
