āWhen Hades decided he loved this girl he built for her a duplicate of earth, everything the same, down to the meadow, but with a bed added. Everything the same, including sunlight, because it would be hard on a young girl to go so quickly from bright light to utter darkness Gradually, he thought, heād introduce the night, first as the shadows of fluttering leaves. Then moon, then stars. Then no moon, no stars. Let Persephone get used to it slowly. In the end, he thought, sheād find it comforting. A replica of earth except there was love here. Doesnāt everyone want love? He waited many years, building a world, watching Persephone in the meadow. Persephone, a smeller, a taster. If you have one appetite, he thought, you have them all. Doesnāt everyone want to feel in the night the beloved body, compass, polestar, to hear the quiet breathing that says I am alive, that means also you are alive, because you hear me, you are here with me. And when one turns, the other turnsā Thatās what he felt, the lord of darkness, looking at the world he had constructed for Persephone. It never crossed his mind that thereād be no more smelling here, certainly no more eating. Guilt? Terror? The fear of love? These things he couldnāt imagine; no lover ever imagines them. He dreams, he wonders what to call this place. First he thinks: The New Hell. Then: The Garden. In the end, he decides to name it Persephoneās Girlhood. A soft light rising above the level meadow, behind the bed. He takes her in his arms. He wants to say I love you, nothing can hurt you but he thinks this is a lie, so he says in the end youāre dead, nothing can hurt you which seems to him a more promising beginning, more true.ā
amandla
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
germansingergirl
