Orpheus in the Underworld

Invisible but there in the eerie dimness:
all manner of creatures from the daylit world,
an animal breathing beneath lyre and voice.
Slowly becoming present: tree, blade of grass,
closed wings compressing gold, obsidian.
Pollen moves through warming air, bees
from unseen flower to flower. What hour of day,
what season? murmurs Persephone, as in dream.
Eurydice's feet touch grass, pass by
the sleeping snake. However high or deep,
each note she hears is at the centre,
draws her towards it. She pauses
(So many turnings, returnings…) at the edge
of a meadow she can almost see.