March Elegy

Spring’s asleep; the ground is cold.
Winter’s old, and in the ground.
Leave your sleep and walk around.
Say a few kind words to the cold cold ground.

Mother weeps; her hair unbound.
Gazing down, she looks so old.
See her weep for her daughter bold,
who sleeps with Death in the ground so cold.

Daughter bold, in Winter’s keep,
held in deep springs underground-
in Death’s cold embraces, drowned-
will you rise and dance on the cold cold ground?

Have you found your lover cold-
grown so old, his bed so deep
underground where waters seep
from the cold cold grave where you lie asleep?

Spring’s asleep; the ground is cold.
Winter’s old, and in the ground.
Leave your sleep and walk around.
Say a few kind words to the cold cold ground.

For Demeter and Persephone, Spring Equinox 1999.
Poem: Edwin Chapman; Art: Norma Hoffman.