Persephone and Hades (revised)

I pick flowers one morning in my valley
As I walk on to begin another day.
I have never known any pain,
Under the umbrella of my mother’s love.

Diem perdidi! My days are lost

To rusted metal and screeching wheels;
I shall never know the world again
For I have left my dear Olympus.

You drag me far below the Earth
And lock me away with your dead,
Reteaching me the concept of love
And building for me a dungeon of sheets.
 
Three years pass; I know the cost of a cat

And in exchange I pay with pain――

Three-fourths of the year, incapacitated!
My days of youth and joy have now died.

Four more years—the brooding season returns.

My young belly swells once again.
By now I beg to be free――
But alas, slapped silent! So I write it down.

You keep me “home,” feeding me books

And a pantry of sour arils;      
I again see light, two-thirds of the year,
But under the distortion of haze.
 
You claim yourself divinity
And tell me to worship sex;
My girls become your altar boys
And I, your temple prostitute.

Has the cold heart of Hades become aflame?

Have you finally seen the face of God?
You have now shed your devilish mask
And released me from your shadows.

For eighteen years I forget the Sun

But in her place find two brilliant lights;
They shall shine on, now and always
Among their divine sister stars.