Of course he did,
he had no answer.
As he looked at some
invisible thing,
he said,
‘I will not return Kore.
She is destined to be my queen.
And her father gave me permission.’
Kore. Daughter of Demeter,
the Goddess of the Harvest.
So that was who he had stolen.
A child of flowers and innocence.
‘Hades.’ I softened my tone.
‘Think of her mother.
This will destroy her.’
Demeter adored her daughter.
And Kore had never been
without her mother’s tenderness.
‘Do you not see, she is a spring Goddess
and you have brought her to where nothing grows?’
The more it unravelled in my mind,
the more my heart broke.
‘Things do grow here.’
Hades touched a black apple.
‘From dead soil and dead bones.
You produce fruit that
no one can eat.’
My hands shook.
‘You are taking from her
the very life force she needs.’
