Persephone

I remember a continuous spring

An abiding burst of burgeoning,

a hush of aerial petals

being carried away in the swaying breeze

the slight hum in the haze drifting in the pasture

as the butterflies beat their wings

to the pulse of their surroundings 

 

How could something so scurrilous

Happen in a place so dauntless?

 

                I twirl in the efflorescence,

                And plunder the radiant field

 

Then

his stinging hand

Arising from a flourishing thicket

As he crushed the most stunning flower

And drew me down

So abruptly I never thought to pull back

my face thrust into the thorns

                Being taken away from the pillows of petals

and I fell down

My blushes were washed out,

bleached like death

 

The dark commotion

That overwhelms my senses,

Destroys my memory

Of color and light,

I fall into a dream of numbness

my adversity, my jail,

my black gown with all its coldness

my skin damp with the aroma of sorrow

my eyes drained like lifeless leaves,

 

Suddenly

and I am forced up out of night and confusion,

Awaking suddenly in the dew-kissed

daisies of my once youth

I am bathed in the spring,

Purified again

I try to smile

But they seem not to notice

I pretend to be alive.

Do they not know my dark heart

Never will change its colors?

My skin quivers in the daylight

like a hobble flag

waiting to be claimed

by its own country.