When Picking Forbidden Fruit, Choose a Laughing One

Taking ripe pomegranates from my tree, I contemplate if I'll forever be stuck spending half the year in the land of the dead. The fruit reminds me Persephone's life was forever changed by pomegranates . . . well that and the interference of family and low company.

Persephone was snatched up by that saggy-chiton-wearing bad boy Hades, who drove her away in his sports chariot to the underworld where willows wept and no fruit grew but pomegranates. Poor lost desolate Persephone. Her mother, Demeter, Goddess of Harvest and Fertility (AKA Sexy EarthMother) was pissed off and wanted her daughter found and returned like ASAP. She mourned, started wearing mom jeans, and her hair whitened with anguish. Finally Persephone's father, Zeus (AKA Original Dude Baby Daddy), decided it was time to take action, but he had a condition: Persephone could only come home if she had kept her purity pledge.

So, forced into action by Angry Sexy EarthMother, Dude Baby Daddy sent Hermes (AKA The Guy Who Gets Around) as a messenger to fetch Persephone and, upon arriving, found her radiant and thriving as Queen of the Underworld. Not lost and desolate. But she missed her mother. Hades comforted Persephone, and enticed her with tangy sweet juicy pomegranate seeds, which left her lips stained red. Slyly, he said "ta-ta for now my queen."

Persephone returned back to the 'hood and Demeter's joy caused wild flowering, fruiting, and fertility fiestas. Ah, summer! But Demeter then remembered Zeus' caveat about Persephone's return. Oops. Her red-stained lips were a symbol of the lush life she'd embraced with that rascal Hades. She'd tasted forbidden fruit and must return to the underworld. But Zeus (such a guy) was uneasy about denying Demeter (no more wild fruiting, perhaps), so he decreed that Persephone would spend part of each year in the underworld with Hades and part of the year in the over-world with Demeter.

No one bothered to ask Persephone what she wanted. But I like pomegranates and a tree came to me with my new home. So, I'm picking poms.