The First Spring Poem by Unnikrishnan Sivasankara Menon

Demeter
the goddess
of agriculture
and fertility.

Unlike those
In heaven,
The flowers
Of earth were
colourless.
Demeter
Felt pity,
Assigned
Her daughter
Persephone
To paint them
In colours.

While at work
Kore was seized
By Hades
And held captive
In his netherworld
kingdom of gloom.

All worlds did
Demeter search
For her daughter
But find she couldn't.
Distraught
She sat weeping
And her gloom
Pervaded
To the earth.
Without rains
And flowers
And grains
Earth dried up.
A terrible drought
And famine.

Now Zeus
Interfered.
He showed
Demeter, Kore
Imprisoned
In the Hades,
Asked Hades
To release her.

Persephone
Returned,
So did Demeter
Earth back to her
Former verdure.
All trees plants
And shrubs
Doned in green
Blossoms
of all hues and
Fragrances
Everywhere.
Butterflies of
All colours
Designs
And shapes
Flitted in
the gardens
Making them
More colourful.
Bees hummed
birds tweeted.
All around
There was colour
Sweet chirps
And gay fragrance,
A tiny
Little heaven
Landed on earth.

It was, on earth
The First Spring.


Note: "Kore" is another name for Persephone.