by Caitlin Mear

Persephone

By Caitlin Mear

rom the start it felt so stifled, Wrapped in cotton summer nights, so When he cast me fields of shade, there Was no need for much persuasion.

There upon the selfish flowers, Sunlight seemed to dance for hours. Then, without a crack of thunderSwallowed was your endless summer.

Crimson kisses till we’re breathless, Oh! To be the queen of death Is servants at your quiet command, Compliance with your dark demands.

Must you rage and moan and bawl? Your spring brought me no life at all. Mother, now I have a throne, And finally I’m left alone.

Mercury, say it is not so, Say that I do not have to go? He told me it’s not Ma, it’s fate- He lies. He drags me from the gates,

Through rivers bursting, forests green (But all was not as it so seemed I heard that Ma, at my departure Stripped those trees of fruits and bark.)

Olympus welcomes back his child, Summer welcomed for a while, Ma pretends that she can’t see My red lined eyes and arms and grief.

Underground I hear her Winters: Winds, and ice, decay - I’m splintered Mother, those would make me happy Not your summers, burning, trapping.

The moon strikes six: time to escape Your summer. Ma, my heart is breaking, I do not have dreams of flying, I dream of your green fields dying.