The Mysteries: Renaissance Choros

Section VI[1]


The mysteries remain,
I keep the same
cycle of seed-time
and of sun and rain;
Demeter in the grass,
I multiply,
renew and bless
Iacchus in the vine;
I hold the law,
I keep the mysteries true,
the first of these
to name the living, dead;
I am red wine and bread.
I keep the law,
I hold the mysteries true,
I am the vine,
the branches, you
and you.

—H.D.

"The Mysteries: Renaissance Choros",[2] or "The Mysteries",[3] is a poem by American poet H.D. first published in 1931, as the concluding poem of her poetry anthology Red Roses for Bronze.[4] Inspired by the Eleusinian Mysteries,[5] the poem concerns a ritual meant to resurrect Adonis.[6]

  1. ^ Doolittle 1986, p. 305.
  2. ^ Morris 1986, p. 511.
  3. ^ Sword 1995, p. 144.
  4. ^ Holland 1989, p. 8.
  5. ^ Sword 1995, p. 147.
  6. ^ Seed 1995, p. 17.