Mothers and Daughters

Persephone is at it again,

upsetting her mother

Demeter's plans; not quite

the usual tensions between

concerned mothers and their

independent-minded daughters

defiant and above reproach,

but close enough to qualify.

Mothers seek to clasp their

daughters too close to their

protective hearts; daughters

protest the stifling love.

Demeter, tasked by nature

to prepare the entrance of

spring, is no doubt distraught

her headstrong, heedless

offspring, so fond of sparkling

jewels in her Stygian palace,

plucked another ruby from the

pomegranate her adoring

husband proffered, promising

its exquisite burst upon her tongue

well worth her mother's wrath.

Leaf-sprouting trees, flowering

bulbs, and early spring wildflowers

all caught in the vortex surprise

of a late snowstorm whirling

upon them as winter obligingly

lingers, unconcerned at the

distress of early butterflies and

migrating birds regretting their

rash impulse to return to the

northern clime not yet resolved

toward warmth and rebirth.