persephone

Pallid beauty
Engaged upon the Earth
Rousing the lands and
Sharing her inner mirth
Exempt from death until
Perpetual death grasps hold
Hades pulling her down beneath
Once Summer turns cold
Never again to be seen
Except on Spring's threshold

by K, Copyright 2013

*I've been thoroughly enjoying the mythology book I've been reading lately, especially taken with Demeter and Persephone. Maybe it is the mother in me?

Click to view some amazing art I've found on the web:
Hades abducting Persephone
Demeter
Persephone

Here are two quotes (and my thoughts) that I have loved, pertaining to Persephone and her mother, Demeter, from Mythology: Timeless tales of Gods and Heroes by Edith Hamilton:

"But all the while Persephone knew how brief that beauty was; fruits, flowers, leaves, all the fair growth of the earth, must end with the coming of the cold and pass like herself into the power of death. After the lord of the dark world below carried her away she was never again the gay young creature who had played in the flowery meadow without a thought of care or trouble. She did indeed rise from the dead every spring, but she brought with her the memory of where she had come from..."

I think that quote is true for all who have suffered in their life. Those who have struggled and truly suffered have been to a place where many haven't. They may once again find themselves in the "normal" world, but they bring with them those memories that cause them to see what others can't.

***

 

"The Olympians were "the happy gods", "the death-less gods", far removed from suffering mortals destined to die. But in their grief and hour of death, men could turn for compassion to the goddess who sorrowed and the goddess who died."

What a thought! A god or goddess who has experienced what immortals do, amidst all the other gods who are destined to never fully understand or comprehend the magnitude of such an experience.