He is the short straw
getting the worst lot of three
cheated and betrayed
then banished from home

He is a dark river
twisting and churning
full of nightmares, anguish, and tolls to cross

He is a war helm
invisible
pure shadow
unseen by all those who are living

He is poplar trees and dead grass
around a palace of obsidian
resembling the home he can never see

He is Hades

She is a mother’s scolding
and her protectiveness
never allowed to wander far from home
though she’s grown

She is flowers and picking beauty
then taken away, away from that home
by a man who claims to love her

She is outrage and fear
convinced she is trapped
then softness and pity
for the man she’s getting to know

She is a pomegranate
the choice to stay rested on her shoulders
she took both

She is Persephone