Proserpine

by Katherine L. Gordon

Beneath starkening trees

in a storm of time

the god of the underworld calls me,

shaking the earth in a rage of longing.

Sun-days mirage into caverns of dark.

Doubting renewal I hide in light dapples

while tongues of angels

fill my ears, stop my cries,

swirl me into familiar arms

of cold unknown.

In the cauldron of granite

I carve my fears,

the earth stands still

stops all motion...

solstice of being.

What will emerge to be recognized?

Everything dissolves in the melt of time

only the fear of nothing

endures.

Laser-light speeding down

the uncaring corridors of time

I breathe in Joan of Arc

exhale the Titans.

* * * * *

Katherine L. Gordon is a rural Ontario poet, publisher, judge, editor and reviewer, working to promote the voices of women poets around the world, as they are now flowering into acclaim.  She has many books, chapbooks, anthologies and collaborations with fine contemporaries whose work inspires her.  Her poems have been translated and awarded internationally.  Latest book: Piping at the End of Days (Valley Press).