Persephone’s Prayer

In Greek mythology, Demeter, the goddess of the harvest, rescues her daughter, Persephone, from eternal winter in Hades and restores her to the land of the living to become the goddess of spring.

Persephone: cold blizzards seal her heart
In icy glass in midst of snow pristine.
Her mother’s flowers bloom, but winter lean
Has laid long waste to lands she can’t depart.

“Demeter, practice now your sacred art:
Come thaw my crystal heart and melt it clean,
And send a sapling strong and green
With tender leaves that bud and burst apart.

“Once freed to beat, my heart reborn takes root;
I reap a harvest full from seeds I’ve sown
And fill the horn of plenty on my own.
Your healing hands that tend the fragile shoot
And eyes that see each need before it’s known
Have taught my heart to bear compassion’s fruit.”

*Dedicated to my mother.

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