StylusLit

March 2020

Back to Issue 7

another easter    another journey not taken

By Vicky Tsaconas

 
in the southern hemisphere, easter is in autumn when pomegranates are

plentiful like they are this morning Μεγαλη Παρασκευη1     today the sky is

black today the day is black mothers’ lament Παναγια Virgin Mary for her

son      the goddess for her daughter

 

husk unblemished like Persephone’s skin and like mine years ago seeds the

colour of blood she and I shed as we descend each year Persephone into the

under-world, I into the darkness

 

in the black, candle-lit night, we shadow the epitaphio its bier enveloped by

white and mauve flowers

                                    wait a while for the light to return2

 

καλο ταξιδι have a good trip as they kiss the remains in church and as the

coffin is lowered into the ground a departing wish for the journey to the other

side      of the river

 

Note:
1.Good Friday
2.On Easter Saturday in the Greek Orthodox Church, the lights are dimmed, then the ‘holy’ light appears.