I
Let me drink from your lips the ancient words and modern prophecies
Of all the light before us;
Let me feast upon the bounty you will share, year after year:
The peach and pear, that glow with summer’s gold;
The apples red, that crunch like autumn leaves;
The apricots, that fill me with spring’s joy;
The vibrant grapes, that turn to winter wine.
In silence you will laugh, and sing, and say ‘twill be alright;
Show me, by the way you dance, our dreams are still alight.
II
There’s times we’ve come close to a quarrel; way back when, in days long gone,
When all my wine was bitter, and your heart bled in a lover’s hands.
You were so very lost, I think, until you found yourself.
Days spent going by a name you realized, later, wasn’t yours;
Months adoring those you see, now, were not worthy of your time…
I couldn’t say the place or hour when you changed;
But slowly, like your drink’s great power starting to affect my mind,
The yearnings of your soul were heard and you became yourself.
New name, new smile, and a will to not just live, but to live greatly:
Seek out justice, broker peace, create stories that my mind
Still thinks about for many days after the words have first been read.
Like grapes to wine, you have become
More sweet, more bitter, and more potent
Than you’d ere dreamed of before.
I drink, and drink, and I am filled completely with the lingering thought
That maybe darkness, after all, will die on a summer’s day…
Drowned in a cup of grapes and sugar, swallowed by your own quick tongue.