Persephone!

Oh, for the May days of hanging around in the woods with my tree friends, waiting to hear the voice of Charlie! I remember yellow sunlight filtering through the branches, and the warm patches on the slopes where the green grass grew in the clearings. The shushing of insects and the rustle of a squirrel foraging were the only sounds.

Always, there is the March damp in upstate NY, those cool grey days in which the yellow forsythia and white snowdrops poke out their heads, and patches of snow still linger in the shade and the creeks run lively with melt-off. But in the past, somber March is followed by delicate April, blue skies appearing between the clouds and soft air touching the skin, and buds on the trees, and tulips and hyacinths and trillium and then glorious May, when the air warms and sunny days prevail and summer is on its way.

Not this year. This year, March weather has lingered into May. The lowering sky is oppressive and the breeze continuous. The rain returns day after day and now the lake is spilling over its banks into parking lots and ditches. I am still wearing my winter coat. My eyes long for blue and green. I'm cold all the time, cold down to my bones.

Could the weather be depressing me? Or could my fears be true, that Demeter is angry with us, and spring will never come again?

Didn't it happen once before, when Persephone was stolen away by selfish Hades? Woe to the gods of materialism and greed, who would steal everything they want for themselves with no regard for what is right and good! Woe to wealthy and powerful Hades, who takes all, plundering the world to line his own pockets and filling his palaces with the beauty that belongs to us all. Persephone has been snatched away!

Global climate change? Of course. Weather patterns are changing around the world, following the patterns predicted by scientists. Or perhaps Demeter is angry, and has refused to release the warmth and light until her daughter returns from the hands of the dominators. Will Hades release her? And if he does, will he once again hand her the small pomegranate temptations of techno-toys and plastic shoes to force her to return?

Pray for spring!