The King of Night, The Queen of Dawn

By 

Donny Huff

In the gardens of Olympus, where the blossoms kissed the air,
Walked Persephone in twilight—radiant, gentle, and fair.
But her peace was quickly shattered when the god of war drew near,
Ares, burning with lust and desire, spoke of claiming her as his dear.

She refused him with a shudder, stepped away in sacred dread,
But the war god's pride was molten, and his wrath swelled hot and red.
As his hand reached out to seize her, came a rumble through the ground,
And the lord of silent shadows rose without a single sound.

Hades, cloaked in somber starlight, let his fury light the gloom;
He stepped between the maiden and the god who spelled her doom.
Steel met the darkness in their standoff, tension heavy as the night,
Until Ares vanished in his rage, denied the spoils of the fight.

Then the trembling lady before him saw no monster in his eyes,
Only mercy, quiet sorrow, and a heart he couldn't disguise.
In his realm of whispered rivers, she found solace in his care,
And a love so unexpected and forbidden bloomed in the Underworld's cold air.

Yet when Demeter learned of her daughter walked by Hades' side below,
She forbade the bond entirely with a mother's righteous woe.
"Leave the shadows, my child, return here. Leave that kingdom to the dead!"
But Persephone stood defiant, no more fear within her tread.

From the table of the Underworld, crimson pomegranate seeds shone soft and bright,
Six she lifted to her lips beneath her Mother's horrified sight.
For she chose the King who saved her, chose the love the world denied,
Chose to reign beside her Hades as his Queen, his fated bride.

Demeter's grief swept through the earth, fields once golden, turned to stone;
Crops lay barren in her fury, winds grew cold with every moan.
Zeus at last was forced to answer, for the mortal world grew thin;
Balance faltered, life grew fragile, something new must now begin.

So he forged a solemn pact that even gods must now obey:
Six months with her Mother's sunlight, bringing life in bright array;
Six months in her husband's kingdom, where the embered torches gleam,
Thus was born the cycle ancient, nature's everlasting dream.

When with Demeter, warmth awakens, flowers burst to life anew;
Spring unfolds in gentle laughter, summer crowns the skies with blue.
But when she descends to Hades, clasping hands with him once more,
Autumn fades to winter's stillness as the world remembers lore.

So the Greeks beheld the seasons move with Persephone's sweet grace,
Half a year in shining daylight, half in Lord Hades' dark embrace.
For the Queen who chose her destiny that walks between both sun and shade,
And the rhythm of the ages echoes every choice she made.

Yet the tale does not end softly, nor in silence does it fade,
For Persephone's footsteps carved in starlight mark the path the ages made.
Every mortal heart that listens feels the tremor of her name,
For Persephone, the goddess of spring, carries light in shadow's frame.

In the Underworld's vast kingdom, where the rivers coil and wind,
She brought warmth to ancient caverns, gentled storms within the mind.
Where lost spirits wandered aimless, she gave peace with tender grace,
And beside the solemn Hades, she restored the barren place.

No more feared as Lord of darkness, no more shunned in whispered breath,
Hades rose in newfound honor, not as tyrant, or the lord of death,
But as guardian of balance, keeper of the final door,
Standing proud beside the woman he would always cherish evermore.

And the gods themselves grew silent when she walked those halls of stone,
For her crown, though forged in twilight, outshone even Helios on his sun bright throne.
Even Zeus, whose might is thunder and lightning, bowed his head in quiet awe,
As he witnessed realms united by the oldest sacred law:

That no force, not wrath nor power, not a Mother's anguished plea,
Can unwrite the fate that blossoms in a love born both wild and free.
For the Fates spun gold around her, threads that shimmered in the dark,
Every choice she made a wildfire, every step a cosmic spark.

So when winter drapes the heavens and the world grows still and bare,
Know the Queen walks deep in shadows, with her King beyond all care.
And when spring ignites the meadows, painting life on every hill,
Know she rises from the silence, and the earth begins to thrill.

For her journey shapes creation; from her breath the seasons rise,
She is promise, she is power, she is where the daylight dies.
She is life reborn from sorrow, she is dusk and she is dawn,
A reminder carved in mythos: even the darkness can be drawn.

Thus her story echoes ages, never fading, never gone:
Love survives the wrath of the gods.....and walks proudly ever on.
For the Queen who claimed her future, forged in courage unafraid,
Left a scar across eternity, one that never shall be fade.

And in every whispered season, when the world is remade new,
All of nature sings of her memory,
The Queen who loved the darkness, and taught the King of darkness who loved her too........