Persephone Sinking

A rumination on Persephone's kidnapping and Demeter's grief, inspired by Rita Dove's book "Mother Love".

This is how her feet sunk into the ground:

Suddenly, and all at once.

His dark carriage, glittering obsidian,

bedecked with blood diamonds,

reflected moonlight and bad intentions.

 

The sea of his eyes

churned with deadly purpose.

Narcissus flowers scattered 

where once she stood.

Daughter of Demeter, 

her light ripped from the harbor,

ships left to wreck.

 

Her bed at home is cold tonight,

the bosom of her mother even colder.

She now finds herself in a cavern

of flames and dementors. This place

of Dante’s journey and Eurydice’s doom,

becomes a final resting place

for chastity and virtue.

 

There is no Virgil to guide her,

no Orpheus to bargain for her.

There is only him, 

his smoldering fingertips

and her burning ankle.

Reviews

[bigfootprint]

A refreshing escape from today's hellish villains and tormentors, LaneyM. You give us just the right mix of literary allusions. With easy turns, you enliven the evil of Persephone's captor, the suffering of the victim, and the fatalistic backdrop of the narrative. It must be a painful transition for a proud queen of spring rebirth to relocate to the nether regions as the queen of the dead -- no doubt arriving dutifully seeded to burst forth for a harvest of her own. We have luminaries starkly reliving her kind of torment in the daily news. Still, it is hard to find sympathy for those who surrender to such dutiful corruption. Well done, LaneyM. -- Doug