Persephone
© 2007 Clara Scudder-Davis and used with permission
[Images: (top) "Lady of the Pomegranates" © Doug Jaques;
(middle) "Persephone Before Pomegranates" © Jeanie Tomanek;
(bottom) "Dream of Persephone" © Kim Northrop]

Only six, six seeds dear Hades
Like bursts of juicy passion tinted by blood
exploding on my tongue
Pomegranate seeds

My heart is heavy
My breath is cold
Your words ring still in my head
Your words of joy
But I have not been loved by a man
before
you.

You offer your diamonds and gold,
Oh why did you choose unworthy me
For when you took me I was but a girl
A child
Innocent.



What gave you dear Hades the right
To bring me here in the depths of the earth, Tartarus

A girl I was then painting flowers as blue as the sky
And you snatched me away from all that I knew
My mother my poor mother
Did you not think of her
and her trials after I had gone

Your once heard laughter ringing through halls
for the first time...ever
Your laughter
Compelling me to put on a dress of the rubies you cherish
for your pleasure

Your offers are tempting, your love is real
but doubt is still in my mind



Will I be forgotten
Now you say no, you love me too much
but when you tire of me, will you regret your decision
to keep me here for six dark months each year

How do I know
the taste of your joy is floating on the air
an echo of my old life is standing before me
dare I step into it

Dear Hades let me step into this lively girl and go home
oh, let me go
do you not think the punishment too harsh
for it was only six, six seeds

Clara Scudder-Davis is a sixth-grade student at Lakeside School in Seattle, Washington, where her class is currently studying Greek mythology.

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