It all began in the garden more than a decade ago...
There's a statue that breathes
Only in summer and in the spring
Her skin is cold and tarnished
But her heart burns with embers
Her senses have not vanished.
She’s the Goddess of the Garden
The daughter of the Gods
A myth-a fable-a tale
But to all those who believe
She’s alive~ She’s real.
She dances through lilies
She walks through lavender and thyme
Her hands tend to the spirits of the earth
She dreams of being mortal~of giving birth
Only to be fooled
By her body and her mind.
The Goddess of the Garden
She’s capable of great love
But her heart was lost to the winds
Just like the passing of seasons
They come and go like friends.
She cries with the leaves fall
Her tears know winter’s call
The Goddess of the Garden
Stands alone, proud and tall.
The pine’s reach toward the north
Their limbs are tired from waving
On nature’s predetermined course.
The fountain’s water has been misplaced
The Goddess of the Garden
Sleeps with snowflakes
On her face.
~JRM
Dedicated to Persephone-Greek Goddess of Vegetation.
Her statue stands in Holcomb Gardens, Butler University, Indianapolis, Indiana.
Poem & Music written after a near-death experience in the spring of 1995
Listen here:
Classical Mythology fertilized Lilac Media's soil...
The first living visitor to the Underworld, though an unwilling one, was the goddess Persephone. The only daughter of Zeus and Demeter (the goddess of grain, agriculture, and fertility), Persephone was an innocent maiden, a virgin who loved to play in the fields where eternal springtime reigned. But Hades had other plans for Persephone: He would steal her innocence and virginity and turn her into the dreaded goddess of the Underworld.
Where Have All the Flowers Gone?
Hades, god of the Underworld, fell in love with Persephone and wanted her as his bride. His brother Zeus consented to the marriage—or at least refused to oppose it. Yet he warned Hades that Demeter would never approve this coupling, for she would not want her daughter spirited off to a sunless world. At Zeus's suggestion—or with his tacit understanding—Hades resolved to abduct the maiden.
Persephone was gathering flowers one day on a plain in Sicily. Hades suddenly appeared, thundering across the plain in his four-horse chariot. The god swooped down upon Persephone,
scooped her up with one arm, and literally and figuratively deflowered her—leaving the plain scattered with blossoms of every color.
The appearance, abduction, and disappearance happened so swiftly that none of Persephone's companions witnessed the kidnapping. And though she called out to them—and plaintively called for her mother—no one heard her pleas. The earth opened up before Hades' chariot and the god drove the jet-black horses down into the chasm. As Hades and Persephone disappeared into the depths, the hole closed up behind them.
Demeter soon came to collect her daughter, but could not find a trace of Persephone. Distraught
and desperate, Demeter searched high and low for her daughter. She traveled to the farthest
corners of the earth, searching for nine full days and nights without ever stopping to eat,
drink, bathe, or rest. Demeter was in a fury. She destroyed lands, crops, and livestock as she
bewailed the loss of her daughter. She threatened to make the earth barren forever and thus destroy all of humankind if she did not find Persephone.
It didn't take long for Demeter's happiness to be replaced with rage, as she recalled the disappearance of her daughter. She flew to the home of Zeus and demanded that Persephone be found at once. She also questioned every immortal she could find and eventually uncovered Zeus' plot. In an attempt to appease Demeter's growing anger, he dispatched a messenger to retrieve their daughter from the depths.
Upon his entry to the Underworld, the messenger Hermes was amazed at what he found. Instead of finding a frail and fearful Persephone, he found a radiant and striking Queen of the Dead. She had adjusted well to her new position, saying she had even found her calling. The Goddess was now in charge of greeting the new arrivals and helping them adapt to their new life. While she wished to see her mother up above, she was torn by her desire to remain Hades' wife.
Hoping to comfort Persephone in her confusion, Hades came to his Queen's side. He gently kissed her forehead and urged her, "Do not fret, eat instead from this fruit I know you will like." 
As she pressed the red pomegranate seeds to her lips, she listened to his words. He told her he would miss her very much, but her duties as a daughter mattered too. So, she climbed into the chariot and bid her husband farewell, as Hermes sped them off to the middle realm of mother earth, the home of her devoted mother.
The flowers sang joyfully of her return, while her mother beamed with pride. Yet, the child that she had born and raised had changed while she was gone. She had grown into a goddess, one both beautiful and wise and the more that Demeter inquired about her experiences below, the more she came to worry that the life they knew was gone. She recalled a declaration Zeus had made from the heavens up above: in order for Persephone to return to the home and life she had known, the young goddess must be as pure as the day she left her mother's side. However, the ruby stain upon her lips spoke of the beauty's fate. Persephone had tasted of the fruit of life. It could not be erased.
Even so, Zeus loved his daughter too much to send her back to Hades without the hope of returning to her mother's abode above. So, each spring Persephone comes back with the flowers that pave her way, to tell the story of rebirth, hope and harmony. And each fall when she leaves again for the Underworld below, her mother mourns and winter comes, while she waits for her return. Yet, for Persephone there is no remorse. She looks forward to the time she spends as Hades' Queen and wife, and to guiding those who have lost their way to the next phase of their life.
Where Ideas Bloom...
Jazmine Productions 1997
IdeaMagnets 2003
Musicpix 2003
Lilac Media 2007
7 Meridian 2011
Jen beat odds of infertility and fulfilled her burning desire to have children slightly before the age of 40. Every word & every note written is dedicated to her sons.
Hope for the Flowers