Font Size:
of my own mother.
Demeter looked up
and for a moment,
I thought she would turn me
into ice with her gaze.
Instead, she got up
and moved towards me,
hands on my shoulders
as, wild-eyed, she shook me.
‘Whereisshe?’
Oh Hades…
What have you done?
‘It Was Zeus’
I said it softly, honestly.
Because it was.
Hades may have taken her
but he had done so with the blessing
of Kore’s father.
‘Zeus gave Hades
permission to take her.
She is in the Underworld,
inside the Forest of Silence.’
The sound that came
from Demeter’s throat
was so terrible
I couldn’t even name it
a cry of despair.
Her fingers dug
into my shoulders.
‘You must take me to her!’
