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2006 Agon Winners - Poetry and Visual Art POETRY A Hymn to Demeter by Kenn Payne Bounteous Demeter of Summer Rains, Goddess of fields and golden grains, Earthen Mother of the Turning Year, I sing to thee that You might hear. A daughter stolen for her beauty, You aim to find her, it is your duty. Of your grief the first winter falls, As living growth fades from all. Through bitter cold you search the land, Teary eyed, with torch in hand. None can tell thee of the treachery, Found within thine own family. Deep below the icy crust, Your brother dwells consumed with lust. For Persephone whose beauty doth bind, And drive the Lord Tartarus out of his mind. The sun and moon can tell no lie, They've seen Hades' deeds with their own eye. Wizened Hekate doth whisper in your ear, The whereabouts of She whom you hold so dear. "Return my daughter," you do command, "Else shall I withdraw from the land." Concerned for the fate of all humanity, Mighty Zeus is forced to end this calamity. From the Underworld doth Persephone return, Into Thine arms which have so yearned. Consumption of the forbidden food it is revealed, Is fair Persephone's fate now sealed? Withdraw you will and winter shall forever stay, If Thine daughter is again taken away. Between the siblings a deal is hit, And from that day the year is split. Spring and summer abound with life, As mother and daughter forget their strife. The year turns on, so Persephone must descend, Queen of the Underworld and her husband's right hand. At her departure Demeter grieves, And from the trees fall all the leaves. Snow and ice force naught to grow, As a mother weeps in bitter sorrow. Hekate, her mother's friend, Attends Persephone in the unfathomable land. And guides her to the gates when her time has ended, Spring with her return shall see all mended. Together in a field of flowers, Demeter and Persephone sing and dance for hours. Once again the year starts to turn, And each time it turns the mother will mourn.   VISUAL ART Queen Persephone by Rain Tree