Demeter’s Holy Grain Poem by Duane Robert Pierson

With corn ripe golden hair
she bestrode the harvest
before the black frost set in,
smiling gently and triumphal
as goddesses are wont to do.

Yet did she or could she,
Goddess of the Corn,
have stood before a hot stove
with Mason jars dancing
in steaming boiling water?

Would she dream of her child
beautiful Persephone,
Maiden of the Spring,
condemned four months
to the deep dark underground?

Would she dream of
her joyful brother Dionysus,
God of the Vine,
each autumn doomed to die
and be torn asunder?

Would she see a jarred wall of
conserved fruits and vegetables,
clay jugs of aging wine,
to succor cold long winter
with tastes of love and sun?

She awaits Persephone’s footfall
awakening earth’s fair growth
of blossoming beauty,
and the resurrection of Dionysus,
to nurture the budding vines.