Did You Know, Persephone?

Reimagining Persephone Part 1

The myth of Demeter and Persephone is well-known in the world of mythology. In this Greek story, Demeter and Persephone are mother and daughter, living in close and loving relationship in the beautiful Earth-world. Hades, god of the underworld, sees Persephone’s youthful beauty, desires her for his queen and rises from beneath the earth in his dark chariot to sweep her away with him to both her and her mother’s protest and horror. Demeter rages and the world falls into a perpetual winter, for she is the goddess of life and birth on Earth. Zeus gets involved to bargain with Hades to return Persephone to her mother so the earth can flourish again. Hades agrees, but tricks Persephone into eating pomegranate seeds from a tree in the underworld, knowing that when you have eaten of the fruit of the underworld you cannot return to the land of the living. This results in a final agreement reached where Persephone returns to her mother for half of the year and spends the other half of the year in the underworld with Hades, thus explaining the seasons of spring, summer, fall, and winter.

I wondered, as I thought about the story from a woman’s perspective, if Persephone really was the helpless victim in all this. Greek mythology has its roots in ancient oral traditions that were eventually popularized into the written word in works written by men such as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, and Hesiod's Theogony. Though they are rich with insights into life, the stories have a male perspective that does not account for a woman’s innate and intuitive knowing.

This three-part poem series began with a simple question: Did Persephone really have no inclination of the turn her life would take? This sparked two more poems: one imagining Demeter’s reply and the final one imagining the answer of Persephone herself, not as a victim but as a sovereign woman. I’m sure a mythology expert would turn up their nose at my spin on the old myths. I just like to look out different windows as I consider my ever-expanding perspective on life and all it holds.

Welcome to the overthinking squirrel that inhabits my brain and gnaws holes in your favorite stories. I really need to name her. In the meantime, enjoy.

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Did You Know, Persephone?

Under the spring willow she lies,
its slender dancers
brushing their lush and greening fingers
over her skin,
her eyes on the sky, its light
hidden by a whisper
that all is not as it seems
in her dreams.

Wingtips of rain
arrive on the wind, changing
the spring light
into a strange incense,
an omen of myrrh and royalty,
horizons of danger breathe intrigue
and shadow, whispering
of descent,
a willow branch
in the underworld.

She wraps her girlhood
in fading ribbons, walks watching
and waiting, knowing
with the old wisdom
of her lineage
that the springtime dreams
were never hers to hold.

Did you know, Persephone,
that you would press your hands
to the angel of death?

The pomegranate rests
in his hand, his eyes
on yours, he awaits
your answer.

You stand
in the night, listening
to the whispers in the wings,
the western winds,
the shifting willow, the heartbeat
of a king.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

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The Threads & Tea podcast is an interweaving of story, inspiration, poetry, and music. Pour a cuppa, if you like, and enjoy. May you find something here that lets you feel a little less alone in the world.