Two Women in the Underworld

After Orpheus doubted and turned his head,
consigning his wife Eurydice to the underworld,
the story leaves her behind
But I hear she wept on the shore of the Styx

I hear Persephone came to comfort her
and wrapped her arm around Eurydice,
told a bad joke to make her laugh
In time, they learned a hundred ways their bodies fit together

I hear they are still there now

When Eurydice forgets what sunlight looks like,
she and Persephone lie on their backs
in the sweet meadow-grass of the Elysian Fields
not needing to speak, their hands intertwined

Other times they swim naked in the River Styx,
and the ferryman doesn’t begrudge them their happiness
He takes his boat downstream
to give them a chance to be alone

I hear they started a band called The Pomegranate Seeds
with Eurydice on drums and Persephone playing guitar
They are teaching Cerberus to howl in three-part harmony
Since Orpheus died, he joins in on bass

Although Persephone is nominally the bride of Death,
Hades is busy running the underworld
He isn’t much for pillow talk or band practice
He leaves them to their own devices

When Persephone has to leave each spring
to bring light and warmth to the upper world,
Eurydice kisses her goodbye for a long time
Orpheus keeps his wife company through the summer

Each fall, Persephone returns and brings Eurydice
a book with violets pressed inside
Maybe Persephone and Orpheus are generous enough
to believe that devotion is a complex animal

I hear a rumor they are in couples’ therapy
and even if it’s true,
I am still hoping that eternity is a long enough time
to learn how to love each other well

________

Elizabeth Hart Bergstrom’s work appears or is forthcoming in Indiana Review, Catapult, The New York Times, Juked, Post Road, and elsewhere. She’s a queer, disabled writer who was born in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and grew up reading the D’Aulaires’ books of Greek and Norse myths. You can read more of her work at lizbergstrom.com.