An audio excerpt from the narration of Mr&Mrs Hades –
this is the story of Narcissus and Echo, a story embedded within the longer story of Persephone, Demeter and Hades.
Echo is the sign of the entanglement of all the worlds.
Echo is the entanglement of all the worlds.
She is the voice of again, she is Re
Goddess of Resonance
She is the return and the reply
the reiteration of everything you have ever said or done
as it bounces off the walls of Paradise and the chambers of the land of the dead
ringing
through all the kingdoms
redolent with the judgement and mercy of angels and devils
giving you time to reconsider and respect –
re-spect – to look again –
at what you say and do and feel
respect
revive
report
relinquish each note into its consequence
reflect ah here she meets her love, Narcissus, dissolved in reflection
refracted into the depths of the surface that would not let him touch.
He did not let her touch
and now he is lost in the hall of mirrors
his glass heart silvered
echoing back his face his beauty his untouchable distain
without empathy or soul
he remains
on the hard surface
dying for the one touch he cannot have.
Without renewal, only remorse, he re-enters the silence of the underworld
But she! Echo is with you always everytime you
remember
every time you listen everytime you repeat and rewind and review
everytime you react and recant and repent
everytime you regard and refresh and refuse,
each morning that you rewaken with the remembrance of your dream
resounding throughout the day
reassuring you of the presence of your beloved dead,
Echo a sonorant susurrus
revolving your heart through the harmonics of each person you have known each word you have said each note raised and returned from the surfaces of your life, the walls of the world.
Each moment echoes forever as the famous fluttering of the butterfly who starts a hurricane
Echo’s reverberations may seem like chaos but in fact are so finely tuned
to their source that it is through her exquisite renewal that all resurrection is possible
Her voice is your voice.
She gifts it to you, so that you can hear.