Pomegranate husks
are hard as stone
dry to our lusts
as Elijah's bones
Pomegranate seed
in their lusciousness
invite us
into her dark suite
Pomegrante juice
is sharp and tart
startling us
lest our lips fly loose
What you see
doesn't always dance
the way all flesh
fancies Zeus's mead
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
Haunting this poem is our knowledge that a pomegranate seed Persephone ate in the Underworld had an effect roughly analogous to the bite of the apple in Eden, and just as the Fall felix culpa (!) ied to the Redeemer and salvation so the story of Persephone led to the Eleusinian Mysteries which promised a blessed immortality for its initiates. And much later Paul referred to the death and resurrection of Jesus as a Mystery because that connection helped them understand the new but not entirely new faith in a blessed salvation.Out of sacrifice and suffering comes salvation - that is the bittersweet truth of ancient belief - but once achieved salvation eliminates the bitter to reveal only the sweet. Taste and see how sweet the Lord, chanted the Psalmist. Your poem celebrates this wonderful spiritual nexus.