“Ode to the Pomegranate” by Jane Beal

Seeded apple, symbol of fertility,
the promise of fruitfulness in the land

glowing, open and red, in the hands of Jesus,
himself held by our Lady under the white wings
of the Spirit on Pentecost

an intimation of the day when your seed
would come out of Persia into California
by way of España and flourish
in the backyards of strangers

making from you the sweet elixir of life
and drinking to their health, ’til drunk on joy,
they forget Persephone—

winter never comes when the sun is shining,
and the sun is shining in the gift-wine of your blood.

Jane Beal
Sunflower Songs (2012)