Sweet Persephone has gone from the land
And the swallow has fled from the sky.
Wind rattles the sedge that grows by the pond
Which once so delighted the eye.
Where now are the harebells that danced in the breeze,
The cranesbills, the clovers, the rose,
Those sweet scented flowers beloved of bees? --
Perh’ps only Persephone knows.
But she is in hell beyond mortal reach
Unable to hear our poor prayer.
She is deaf to the sound of all human speech
In that kingdom of dark despair.
Here fields are frozen hard with frost
And the fog hangs around like a shroud.
Without any guide the traveller’s lost,
The staunchest of spirits are cowed.
High up in a pine the crow sees a glow
As dim as a distant star.
This bird of the night is the first to know
That the door of the dead is ajar.
For Persephone’s spell as the queen of hell
Has reached its allotted term
So sound the trumpet, ring out the bell—
Welcome, welcome spring’s return!
Note: In Greek mythology, Persephone was abducted by Pluto, the lord of the underworld, and against her wishes, installed there as his queen. Her distraught mother, Demeter, who was responsible for the growth of all crops, fruit and flowers on earth, abandoned her duties and global winter set in. In desperation, the supreme god, Zeus, organized a compromise that allowed her daughter, Persephone, to be released from hell for part of the year and only be returned to her husband for one season. Demeter restored fertility to the earth but only when her daughter was back with her. When Persephone was reigning in hell, winter returned.
Pete Crowther
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sweet-persephone/
