Bittersweet Poem by Frank Avon

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.