Ode to Persephone C:
O Persephone, goddess of spring and flowers, your beautiful lilies and violets thrive and blossom under the golden sun and gentle rain. Your mother's plentiful crops flourish along with the blossoming tulips, which frame the rows of crops.
Even when you are in the underworld, your happiness still lingers, leaving the smell of blooming flowers for everyone to enjoy.
In your absence, when Demeter makes the air cold and freezes your flowers, we too experience the pain of losing you. When Zeus restores you to the earth, our hearts fill with joy and the flowers return.
If Zeus had not heard the cry of the starved people, if he had not had kindness in his heart, you would not be here.
If Demeter's wrath had not victimized us, you would not be here.
If Helios had not told Demeter where you were, you would not be here.
And yet, after all of these hardships, you are still here. You are playing in the fields with the nymphs, still smiling happily as if you had not been in the Underworld.
And if in the Underworld you are known as 'dreaded Persephone', you are not known there as you are known here. If you had not been dubbed Persephone, bringer of destruction, and you had still been Kore, we would not have to live with the sorrow of losing you. These are only some that make us appreciate you.
When the ground swallowed you, and your weeping echoed across the many canyons and valleys.
We too felt your sorrow.
When you ate the pomegranate, we too felt your surprise. And now, when spring is in full bloom, we enjoy your flowers and Demeter's happiness.
I shall remember you and another song, too.