I knew
from my dreams of stone temples, death, and
a dark potent God,
that I would go.
Slipping away from my mother,
I gathered my bridal bouquet from her fragrant fields
and sat alone
where Narcissus blooms,
watching,
waiting
for the earth to crack.
Nothing….
Nothing moved but the wind on the grasses
and Apollo’s watchful eye.
So I reached for a blossom
and firmly pulled its roots from the soil.
Then,
something.
Something...
came from beneath
and violently pulled me down...
down through a dark passage
of moist blackness,
and tangled roots,
until I lay beside the underground river, silent and deep.
He waited for me there in the dim light...
Hades, dreadful Lord of the Underworld.
My mind, racing with fear, voicelessly cried out,
“Oh Gods! will I die here?”
In the frozen silence
his powerful horses stamped and pulled at their reins,
their hot breath steaming the cold air,
but his eyes were steady and piercing,
formidable,
yet patiently asking,
“Are you willing? Are you ready?”
Something….
something made my blood run hot
and I reached up.
He pulled me close with one great arm,
and with the other
drove the chariot
hard into the river
beneath the murky waters.
I cannot tell what happened in the depths,
you must go there yourself,
but I will say this:
I emerged completely changed.
Pregnant with new wisdom and new life.
And so, I came into the Land of the Dead as their Queen.
The pitiful shadows there,
rejected and feared by the world above,
moved my heart.
Long I looked upon each one,
that I might understand
the pain of neglected children
wanting only to be seen and heard.
I looked,
and I listened.
It seemed only a moment had passed since my descent
when a messenger arrived from Zeus.
Thinking I had been abducted,
Demeter refused to tend the Earth.
Hermes had come to take me home...
a place I’d almost forgotten.
Knowing I had to go, my dark God did not rage...
as some have reported..
but asked for my return, and in truth,
I had no wish to leave.
But, for the love of my Mother, and Life, I began my ascent.
For the love of my Husband, and Death,
I took the sacred pomegranate from his hand,
ate of it,
and promised him a part of every year.
I came into the world through a sacred spring,
where the river rises to nourish the earth.
All was desolate, barren, and cold.
Horrified, I ran to find my mother,
to show her I was safe,
to tell her what I saw.
With each step,
flowers burst forth,
and grass greened.
Demeter had felt my presence
and released the world from Winter.
I am now a Goddess in my own right
and the world will no longer have eternal Summer,
I will not allow it.
There must be a dying off...
a descent into the shadowlands
to honor what has been lost
or killed...
and a rebirth from the seed of that
dark, moist realm.
This is the Sacred Marriage of Life and Death.
This is the Secret of Creation.
This is the Eternal Mystery.
*
by © Marilyn J. Meyer Owen
Painting: The Return of Persephone by Frederick Lord Layton
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