Oh Venerable Zeus, grant Persephone’s petition to retain Adonis!

I, as Queen of the Underworld, can
Protect his charming body from vicious men
It is here where he found his safest den
Here I’ll protect his flesh from being stricken

Oh Venerable Zeus, grant Persephone’s petition to retain Adonis!

I, as keeper of this handsome lad since his childhood
Seeks for him nothing, but everything that’s good
It is his well-being that lights up my mood
I’ll badly be hurt when he’s hurt by someone shrewd

Oh Venerable Zeus, grant Persephone’s petition to retain Adonis!

Shrewd is his rival for the love of Aphrodite
He will be in great danger with her, can’t see?
Surely from Ares wrath, he’ll experience something nasty
And also with the god of fire, he’ll surely die violently!

Oh Venerable Zeus, grant Persephone’s petition to retain Adonis!

Have mercy! Have mercy! To this youth so fine!
Have mercy! Have mercy! To this youth of mine!
To deadly earth above, don’t allow him to incline
If this bad fate happens, my eyes will emit brine

Oh Venerable Zeus, grant Persephone’s petition to retain Adonis!

Witness me mourn for the loss of this lad!
Do you want the Queen of the Dead to feel bad?
If Adonis is gone, my brain will also be mad!

Oh Venerable Zeus, grant Persephone’s petition to retain Adonis!

From this sanctuary, do not take him away
Do not let my life be in disarray
To make him remain here, tell me the way
I bow, I kneel, I prostrate, I pray!

-02/09/2015
*Hopelessly Immortal Collection
(Dumarao)

Persephone runs amok, her hair caught on tendrils of wind,
eyes lucid as emeralds; aware, alive.
Hope is sketched on her face as if drawn by whoever paints the sunset,
pulsating with the reflection of neon cities, rolling countryside,
the adrenaline-pumping moment before a rollercoaster’s descent.
She is high on happiness, running across her plane of existence
with only her converse sneakers and extraordinary ambitions.

Persephone knows she owes her unbridled youthfulness to Demeter.
Demeter, who is stern but unconditionally loving,
selfless, for when she hears her daughter’s plea for food she stops
her spoon midway through a bite.
When Persephone struggles with the perpetual torture of arithmetics,
Demeter’s sheer intelligence is astonishing, the iridescent reflection of
Persephone’s aspirations, for a problem to Demeter is merely
a hidden solution, a failure only a victory in waiting.

If only Demeter knew how her words are of the highest value,
her pleased smile the only affirmation to a job well done.
Her love cradled in the nook of Persephone memories,
every moment she is infinitely grateful to co-exist,
grateful for the Universe to award her the simple pleasure
of loving her parent with purity and stripped of conditions.

As Persephone runs, she glances back for a mere second,
in her smile is the mirror of her naivety,
she still believes that her Gods will save her from being a slave to
the inevitable corruption on Earth and Olympus,
for she is sure her untarnishable love for Demeter is her protector.

Yet, you know how the story goes.
In an instant, Persephone is falling into the Underworld, on the back of a beautiful monster into inescapable darkness.
But even then, she holds on to Demeter in thought and in prayer.
After adulthood, marriage, queenship, a childhood gone in a flash,
after her hands become worn with calluses, her face a series of rivers,
her mind expansive, her goals reached, Persephone knows she owes her unbridled youthfulness to the first person she ever loved.

I love you Dad, Happy Father’s Day.