Fruit of the Tree Yields Fruit of the Womb

About this poem

Just as in an agricultural society fruit as crop must first be labored by the sweat of one’s brow before they can be harvested and later nourished, so likewise must a woman also labor with her “p’ri be.ten” (Hebrew for “the fruit of the belly”) before she, too, can harvest what she will nourish in later months as the fruit of her womb. This haiku poem, in its use of the title, “Fruit of the Tree Yields Fruit of the Womb,” makes allusion to the following biblical tale found in Genesis 3:16, which reads as follows: “To the woman he said, I will greatly multiply the pain of your child bearing; in sorrow you shall bring forth children. ” The three lines of the haiku poem link the laboring necessary in crop seeding, sowing, reaping, and harvesting, with the laboring that is equally necessary and part of the process of a woman’s seeding, pregnancy, “morning sickness” experiences, and child delivery. The first scenario refers to the farmer’s crop of fruit. The second scenario refers to “the fruit of the womb” (a woman’s unborn child); both enjoyable and enjoyed after months of laboring. The selection of apple to represent crops in general, is a direct reference to the Genesis tale of the biblical apple involving Adam and Eve, or the life of humanity forever toiling in the world. more »