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<\/a><\/div>\n\nIf you recall, Ceres’s daughter Persephone was stolen by Hades. She attempted to rescue her daughter but was never able to get her back. Persephone had eaten the seeds of the pomegranate, making her forever bound to the underworld.<\/p>\n
The Pomegranate<\/p>\n
by Eavan Boland <\/p>\n
\nThe only legend I have ever loved is
\nthe story of a daughter lost in hell.
\nAnd found and rescued there.
\nLove and blackmail are the gist of it.
\nCeres and Persephone the names.
\nAnd the best thing about the legend is
\nI can enter it anywhere. And have.
\nAs a child in exile in
\na city of fogs and strange consonants,
\nI read it first and at first I was
\nan exiled child in the crackling dusk of
\nthe underworld, the stars blighted. Later
\nI walked out in a summer twilight
\nsearching for my daughter at bed-time.
\nWhen she came running I was ready
\nto make any bargain to keep her.
\nI carried her back past whitebeams
\nand wasps and honey-scented buddleias.
\nBut I was Ceres then and I knew
\nwinter was in store for every leaf
\non every tree on that road.
\nWas inescapable for each one we passed.
\nAnd for me.
\nIt is winter
\nand the stars are hidden.
\nI climb the stairs and stand where I can see
\nmy child asleep beside her teen magazines,
\nher can of Coke, her plate of uncut fruit.
\nThe pomegranate! How did I forget it?
\nShe could have come home and been safe
\nand ended the story and all
\nour heart-broken searching but she reached
\nout a hand and plucked a pomegranate.
\nShe put out her hand and pulled down
\nthe French sound for apple and
\nthe noise of stone and the proof
\nthat even in the place of death,
\nat the heart of legend, in the midst
\nof rocks full of unshed tears
\nready to be diamonds by the time
\nthe story was told, a child can be
\nhungry. I could warn her. There is still a chance.
\nThe rain is cold. The road is flint-coloured.
\nThe suburb has cars and cable television.
\nThe veiled stars are above ground.
\nIt is another world. But what else
\ncan a mother give her daughter but such
\nbeautiful rifts in time?
\nIf I defer the grief I will diminish the gift.
\nThe legend will be hers as well as mine.
\nShe will enter it. As I have.
\nShe will wake up. She will hold
\nthe papery flushed skin in her hand.
\nAnd to her lips. I will say nothing.<\/p>\n
If you’re a mother or daughter, or even a father or son, I think you relate in some way to the poem. It’s hard not feel that pulling feeling–that tugging at your heart–that someday they will be their own person. That they will have to suffer because it is inevitable, and all I will see is that perfect pink face that I brought into this world, and know that in some way, I am responsible.<\/p>\n
As always, thanks for following! Raze, my novella set in the world of SHINE, is available as an ebook on Amazon.com for $2.99. In my book, I explore the relationship between daughters and mothers, and how trials and hardships can bring them closer together. It’s also a fun, action-packed read, but I had to include some mother-daughter drama as well.<\/p>\n