Where I lived - winter and hard earth.
I sat in my cold stone room
choosing tough words, granite, flint,
to break the ice. My broken heart -
I tried that, but it skimmed,
flat, over the frozen lake.
She came from a long, long way,
but I saw her at last, walking,
my daughter, my girl, across the fields,
in bare feet, bringing all spring's flowers
The moment Persephone appears the mood transforms. She comes from a ‘long, long way’, a reference to distance and also time; remember that Demeter has plunged the earth into permanent winter. As Persephone walks towards her the vowels lengthen and soften, to convey the re-awakening of life.
Demeter