RICE WINE

in a quiet little room
full of keepsakes
is a bottle of homemade ricewine
it is saved for some certain guests
who will laugh at the common foibles
as quickly as they will forget
sitting around a kitchen table
that wobbles just enough to
keep elbows off and manners intact
stories and quick sayings are
batted back and forth
even as the wine and winemaker
are praised
the sweetness loosens the laughter
and beckons another
for the road
life is of the wondrous
and the silly
haunting desire and memory
we sit at this table
and the world spins a bit faster
changing skies as often
as the stories change to
engage the non-participants
who are still amazed at this wine
and saved for friends
who want the adventure
as well as the remembering
calling the ghosts of other acquaintances
who would have enjoyed the wine
and the tale of its becoming
and how it is that this sweet thing
was opened for just this
occasion