Seen Through a Half Glass

Dinner was over an hour ago Counters wiped clean, dishes are washed and dried I hold my glass up to the light like a color slide, and see the world, warped, and blurred through the half glass of rosy wine It makes everything seem clearer somehow, and sobers the mind Forming long, umber silhouettes, we sit on the lawn, and gaze to the mountains, talking quietly, and sipping the pink chardonnay Dark of the shade seems to drink up the light of day Evening carols being sung by two mourning doves, are accompanied by a choir of crickets in the dewy grass calling for reverence, in honor of a dying sun Soft voices are lifted in still air The pink light seems to paralyze time. We have found kindness here, and somehow the grueling trials of the year seem smaller than they did yesterday Now the day turns toward the darkness and we have rid our taste of the dry and bitter dust of everything that has been said and done The north wind shakes the trees and the last leaf that clung so fast and tight releases its grip, and disappears into the dusk We shall never need to see where it lands for we are forbidden strangers to the dark Let us remain friends with the light Let us unclench our old resistance And after we have finished the last drop of wine we will turn, and go inside and thank our stars for the pungent taste that yet lingers on our tongues in case we might need proof that some years will harvest a bitter taste.... and some years will harvest a crop blessed by the sun _____________________________________