To Kore

This is a poem To Kore, from Hades... In honor of Samhain. To those who don't understand this, look up the story of Persephone and Hades (Greek Mythology).

Oh, Kore,

Hear one who deep within the cavern’d world doth long,
To touch the flower’d light, to dance with lilted song,
Whose heart is not of stone, though stone became his fate,
When lots were cast ‘mongst brothers, he won the nether gate.

The one received the trident and doth rule the perfumed foam,
The other on the heights of proud Olympus sits his throne.
They rule their realms as kings but all must homage show,
To Her from whom the holy stream of life doth ebb and flow.

These rulers are but stewards all of one great secret deep,
The one the sky, the one the sea, the one the caverns keep,
And I alone thought least of all among the brothers three,
I guard the utmost mystery and this I’ll teach to thee.

I sit not on the radiant mount nor rule the scented sea,
But lonely in my cloistered halls I call the dead to me.
They come with fear and deep despair and cry unto the sky,
“Oh why live we and suffer so if only now to die?”

My countenance is hard as stone, implacable the law,
But oh, my heart would comfort give and stay the bloody maw.
Yet all must pass beneath the gate to see again the light,
And in the darkness meet their souls and seek their paths aright.

And lonely in my somber toil I yearn for loving eyes,
A soothing touch, a heart that knows how I am moved by cries.
Oh, maiden whom the flowers love, who wears the verdant green,
Come with your laughter to my halls and rule my realm as Queen.

Let amethyst and azurite and radiant tourmaline,
Ignite before the light bestowed by Erebos’ new Queen.
Let souls who journey through the night find comfort in your gaze,
Let those who craven’d in despair now find a voice for praise.

To all who walk the spiral path, the key of life to gain,
Bestow the token of a glance that says all’s not in vain,
Unto my realm I beckon you, fear not the Stygian gates,
With fullsome heart and outstreached hand -- thy Dark Lord waits.

--by Tom Williams