A Grape

A grape will always be a grape It can never grow into a watermelon's girth No matter how badly it wants to burst You see there is no escape Because a grape will always be a grape It will never exude the heady fragrance of a cantaloupe Or boast the juicy flow of a peach Or cause the oohs and ahhs of strawberries dripping cream A grape will always be a grape Wow....it seems kind of mean Even more because a grape has skin so thin So easy to crack with disappointment and leak its sadness Even in a garden full of gladness Even in a cluster of like others A grape is a lonely fruit So small, so delicate Not enough seeds inside to fill its true needs It's desire to be something more Something bigger Something grander Something remembered for a very long time For who remembers a single grape really? They get thrown into barrels and squashed with bare feet Their bodies broken, split apart. Stuffed between strangers steel toes Eventually they get transformed into what some call the Devils juice But others hold a different view And value the wine the little grapes weep So the little grapes get transformed at last They are fire in human veins, exciting dance and laughter, Medicine for pain, balm for broken hearts, for dreams torn apart How mighty these little ones have become, suffering together Having never thought it could be done Until brother joined brother, one by one In vino et Veritas In wine there is truth