Pomegranate

eat of the pomegranate and be glad

   for that other tree in the garden

   may bring you to sadness or madness

 

admire the lacquered red of the pomegranate

   select design of temple cloth and stone

   amidst glorious present shapes of earth

 

prise open and enjoy the pomegranate’s beads

   fleck and tang on tongue and mind

   forgetful a while either of need or death

 

listen to the modest scale of the pomegranate

   budding anew from immemorial

   unheard by the world’s noisy power play

 

take in the scent of the opened pomegranate

   intended beauty suffusing breath

   refusing thoughts of apathy or despair

 

 

Genesis 2: 9

1 Kings 7:20