Though they are not rare, it is still something to find and behold a colorful male mandarin duck. It caused some frenzy over the internet when people frequenting Central Park in New York found a mandarin duck gliding along its pond in 2018.
What's fun to note is that it holds a lot of symbols in East Asian cultures. These ducks are famously referenced for their compassion and marital loyalty. They are observed as monogamous species due to frequent displays of courtship with the same partner, moreover they are fierce with intruders, especially the males. Most Japanese, Koreans and Chinese couples have these mandarin ducks as their symbol for fidelity and great love.
Introduction: Okay, so I have been wanting to write something for a long time and I come across a writing prompt about Persephone. For a long time I have been engrossed by the great story of Hades and Persephone, and their tumultuous lives. As in modern interpretation, the abduction part could be compared to other contemporary arts like The Phantom of the Opera.
According to The Conversation:
Erik then sings to Christine of the attractions of his isolated world of darkness and night:
Slowly, gently night unfurls its splendor
Grasp it, sense it, tremulous and tender
Turn your face away from the garish light of day
Turn your thoughts away from cold, unfeeling light
And listen to the music of the night
The plea of Hades to Persephone is quite different in the Hymn, but the desperate loneliness of the two males in their dark realms is something that they have in common.
FYI, I have loved the Phantom of the Opera for a long time, and my friends and I watched the theater production in CCP years ago.
Anyways, here I tried writing something regarding the prompt in the title above. I haven't written something for a long while, so I hope you will be kind to me.
Writing prompt: Persephone writing to her friends
Dear friends above,
How’s everything going above? I am sure it is bright and
sunny, full of colors and smells of nature. It’s been a while since I tasted
and smelled and touched and saw the above world. All my happiness and gladness
rest in knowing that the above world is as peaceful and clean as I have known it.
It has been a while since I've been living my life here below.
It is full of movements, intellectual figuring, forming habits and emotional
dependence, most of all emotional instincts. Rare are moments of logical
clarity, but I must relentlessly wait for it to come as it is the glue that
holds my system here altogether. It is full of emotional instinct,
intuitiveness, walking in the dark, auditory instincts – of course I have been
blind for a while, with this kind of darkness, this volume of darkness, it will
take a while to adjust to it. He has served as my eyes, he willingly
volunteered to do it, as he wanted to keep me alive. He is very devoted, very
protective, intuitive and skilled in sensing what I need and he has this
ability to foresee what would be needed in both the near and far future.
Interestingly he is kind and sweet even romantic. Strong but
soft, clear headed at times when he is in control of his humongous emotions. He
is intellectual and most of all, intuitive. He has this amazing sense of
knowing many things in just one look, because he doesn’t look with his eyes, he
looks with his soul. His soul, like his name is ancient. He is hurt beyond my
comprehension but he is still alive in his own sense and definition of living. He is keen about his survival, but if he
values you, he will share that self-protection with you – you will become an
extension of himself, sensing which way would ensure not only your basic
survival but how you could survive in the most wonderful way, the best way of
survival. He instinctively knows that I would not survive in his dark world, so
he has no choice but to protect me. I still don’t know why he abducted me, but
I know he wanted to keep me alive, under his own terms and his own watch. I don’t
even know how to keep a secret anymore, he doesn’t take his gaze off me, he is
always in my space, contemplating and meditating at the foot of my ‘room’.
I have been blind in this underworld. I realize now that
eyes are not important when you are suddenly engulfed in many layers of
darkness. No matter how clear my eyes are, they are not going to help me see.
He has been my eyes for a long time, stirring me to the right places, driving
me to the spaces where it will be safe, guiding my every move. His eyes are not
what he uses, he uses his heart and soul to see, those require tremendous
energy as opposed to the minimal requirement of the eyes, that’s why he needs
to contemplate and go inside himself from time to time, to recharge and
rejuvenate. And also to correctly adjust and realize where he wants to go next
and what he wants to do next. I can sense that he is too tired sometimes, he
has been doing these intense things inside him and even outside him in this
realm for so long. When I sense that he is too tired, I try to console him and
show him my warm presence. I don’t know if it is enough but eventually he
springs to life again and ready to face his challenging fate. But of course, as
in natural law, we all grow and we all adjust to the space we have been
occupying for a long time, acclimation has been taking place and I am slowly
waking up from the infantile situation that I was in. He knows this all too
well. He doesn’t try to control it actually, so that is a good news to me. He
didn’t stunt my growth and my transformation, he respects natural laws, because
I am sure, he is governed by it too. But I sense that he is mortally afraid now
that I am waking up beside him. However, I guess because of affection and love,
he lets me take my time in growing and he wants it even.
Yes, he could be a tyrant but he doesn’t want to influence
in any way my growth, he didn’t touch it with any malady or malice. He kept the
purity of it, he kept it safe inside. He is really a mix of love and danger,
passion and rage, but he is real and authentic.
I sense that he is mortally afraid that I now have my own ‘eyes’
to ‘see’, possibly because he expects that I will judge him, in all his
darkness and in his own sacred space. But deep in my heart, I know that I am
not given this opportunity to be in his intimate space to make him feel bad
about himself. It is not in me to judge him, it is in me to help him and serve
him. Because I have felt how heavy it is to be given that burden and seen him
carry it up to the last of his strength, every single day.
Anyways, I have been playing with his dog, Cereberus. He has
three heads and he is very cheerful. He keeps a watchful eye to this dark
realm, just like his King. He is fierce, acting like a royal guard to the
treasures of this realm.
I have to keep this letter short. I might write again when I
find the time.
Love,
Persephone
Never has this song resonated so much to me until today💦
The Killing Moon
