P is for Persephone...and Apparently, Long Winters

 "Be to her, Persephone,

All the things I might not be;

Take her head upon your knee.

She that was so proud and wild,

Flippant, arrogant and free,

She that had no need of me,

Is a little lonely child

Lost in Hell,—Persephone,

Take her head upon your knee;

Say to her, “My dear, my dear,

It is not so dreadful here."

~ Edna St. Vincent Millay

Back in January, I began the One Page a Day Challenge and immediately threw away my quill.  Now in April, I’m participating in the A to Z Blogging Challenge and prepping for a Wilderness Writers’ Retreat.  I need ink, a stiff drink and therapy.

A

nother sad midnight and I ain’t got no…words of wisdom.

And Sam Cooke is just shaking his head up in Rock and Roll heaven.

Ah well, you can’t win them all!

I’m hoping that all the ham, stuffing, green beans, latkes, cabbage, spinach, butter, and biscuits (what?  We’re a Southern-Eastern European household!) will inspire some great prose for next week’s post. 

While we all wait for that glorious pot to boil, here is another painting that is a favorite of mine.

P is for Persephone

And not just a favorite piece of art, but a favorite Greek myth as well.  I love all the Greek and Roman myths.  We studied them in middle school.  And I love how modern writers have immersed themselves in these ancient stories, and breathed new life into them. 

What a beautiful way to inspire getting to know history and a past culture.

Proserpine, 1874, Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Prosepine is the Roman version of Persephone

Although Waterhouse is by far my favorite PR Brother (shhh, don’t tell the others), Rossetti is a close second.  Here, he captures the essence of Persephone’s story ~ she looks as if she is turning slightly back, away from the light, facing the Underworld, and she clasps a partially eaten pomegranate, thus ensuring that she has to stay with Hades a third of the year.  During this time, her mother Demeter mourns her absence by forbidding all vegetation from growing.

Given this winter we’ve had, I’d say Persephone partied too hardy with Hades and is only now staggering out from the Underworld.

And since we had two days of balmy weather followed by two days of freezing temperatures, I’d say that is one heck of a hangover.

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

I was going to make a snarky remark about kill joys who sniff and turn their noses up at ancient stories and myths.  But it’s Good Friday.  You’re welcome.