An Abridged Story of Wine <br />The bottom of the nave used to be a lake's bed, but one night, <br />when moon was white as search light and the sky maroon, <br />the lake vanished. Dead fish and toenail clippings at the bottom, <br />but the soil was rich, and the people who used to fish for a living, <br />planted vine which bore healthy grapes, but grapes fermented <br />and wine was discovered. A drink that made them merry, they <br />sang, slapped flat stones together and made music. <br />But if drinking too much they ended fighting and used stones as <br />missiles, and given to arguing about the quality of snow that fell <br />the year before. In clay pots they sold red wine and became rich, <br />till Moslems came, forbad the making of wine, they planted pale <br />yellow orange trees instead. But the juice of sweet blue grapes <br />has an unstoppable allure it fills heart with music, the production <br />was moved to hidden dells in Alentejo. When Arabs, defeated by <br />Christian hordes, fled; Iberia had abundance of red wine but also <br />sugary orange juice.<br /><br />oskar hansen<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/wine-story/