Demeter at Eleusis

In Greek mythology, when Persephone, Demeter’s daughter, was abducted to Hades, Demeter, who was the Goddess of the Earth, was in such deep despair that she did everything to try to get her back. She even became the governess for the King of Eleusis’s children, placing one of them by the fire each evening, to try to make him immortal. To my mind, Demeter’s sorrow in losing Persephone corresponds to us in our time faced with the demise of a healthy planet. May the story of Persephone coming back in spring be our own, as we learn to treat this earth with its due respect.

She returned for her lost temple

She ached for her stolen child

She entered, they gave her shelter

In her hand, the blue dawn smiled

Chorus: For she brought god and danger

Ember dance in blaze of grain

Shrouded woman, thief of wonder

Thought to have her child again

Let me place you near the fire

Waken what you’ve always known

Take away the smoke and shield

Make you blaze beyond your bones

The other woman woke to find her

Pulled her child from the hearth

Broke the gift, the haughty blessing

From the Goddess of the Earth

Demeter in Despair

Take these seeds and hold them

Never let them touch ground

Keep the orchards dormant

The wheatfields left unplowed

Chorus:

All your daughters stolen

Spring will wake no more no more

Spring will wake no more

Take it further darlings

Let the knowledge die

Of sew & burst & longings

The rivers siphoned dry

Let deserts rise within your minds

And shields eat your thrones

Let kindness sink

Below your feet

Let friendship not be known, be known,

Let friendship not be known

Chorus:

All your daughters stolen

Spring will wake no more no more

Spring will wake no more

All These Bargains: Persephone’s Call

“All these bargains with the seeds,”

Speaks her daughter, Hades’ queen

Seated on her glowing throne

“They will keep me here below”

“All these bargains with the wind

Let the rivers rise again

Half my promise, half the year

I will see my mother clear

“All these lessons of the wheat

She will deign again to teach

Flowers gleam and orchards bloom

If we learn to listen new”