Persephone, queen of the dead, spends 6 months with her beloved husband. As winter ends, her mother weeps tears of joyous anticipation, nourishing the bulbs hidden underground, pulling them up in sprouts and buds as if to beckon her little girl back from the underworld.
And Persephone returns to her mother’s arms, and they embrace in joy. She seems to bring with her all the flowers from beneath the soil, and the world is sunny and cool, the seeds that mortals plant spring happily into the embrace of the sun and the joyous rain.
And it is summer, and mother and daughter grow close, so close, too close for Persephone, who remembers the cool touch of her husband as the days grow long and hot, and sometimes she boils inside.
And as summer reaches it’s close and Demeter bids her daughter farewell once again, she weeps, her tears cold and sometimes bitter, and her sunny face is hidden by clouds. Persephone wipes her tears lovingly, and sheds some of her own, sad to leave her mother but so eager to return to her husbands embrace.
And the world is frozen as all the warmth pools in the ground. Persephone wraps her warm arms around her husband’s chest and breathes a sigh of relief as her skin cools. She tucks a flower behind his ear, a gift from her mother, and takes her seat beside him, not a little girl but a queen.
