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Vintage Love

Love is as a grape when it begins,
Unblemished by the bruises and the sins
That will come in time. For now it is
Refreshing sweetness and delightfulness.

Bewilderment accompanies the crush
That violates that virgin crimson blush.
Forgiving, leaning in, and letting go
Allow for love to harmonize and grow.

If care is not invested fruit becomes
Sharp and sour and the love succumbs
To drudgery that breeds a bitterness,
Defiling the grape’s early promises.

But on the other hand if care is made,
And hope and patience are not left to fade,
With age the fruit becomes the finest wine,
Developing complexity in time.

And thus the love is deeper than before,
Unique delights are tasted and explored
By two entwined as lovers and dear friends,
A mellow yet intoxicating blend.

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Gigi Ryan is a wife, mother, grandmother, and home educator. She lives in rural Tennessee.

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16 Responses

  1. Allegra Silberstein

    What a beautiful poem for Valentine’s Day. Thank you for this gift and I think it reflects your life well lived. Allegra

    Reply
    • Gigi Ryan

      Allegra,
      Thank you for your comment and you are welcome for the poem.
      I am glad you can tell that it is a poem that couldn’t have been written apart from experience.
      Gigi

      Reply
  2. Margaret Coats

    A beautiful narrative in clear verse–with all the cautionary words that imply the care of a proficient winemaker. “Developing complexity in time” is a fine line leading on to a most satisfying final quatrain.

    Reply
    • Gigi Ryan

      Dear Margaret,
      Thank you for your comment and observations, Margaret. To know a poem left the reader satisfied makes it worth having shared it.
      Gigi

      Reply
  3. Joseph S. Salemi

    This poem develops a perfect conceit — the comparison of love to a crushed grape that becomes a fine wine. I hope I am not overreaching if I see the second quatrain as an allusion to the chaste and proper loss of virginity in the bridal bed

    Reply
    • Gigi Ryan

      Dear Joseph,
      You are not are overreaching. I spent a lot of time searching for the right phrasing there. I debated about using the word “virgin,” lest the meaning become primarily physical. But you interpreted it as I intended – primarily an emotional comparison with the the possibility of a physical comparison as well.
      Gigi

      Reply
  4. Cynthia Erlandson

    I, too, love this poem in which you’ve started with a simple simile, in the first line, and developed the thought into a complex conceit that expounds on how true love works. Lovely!

    Reply
  5. Paul A. Freeman

    Nicely done, Gigi. Grapes are indeed fragile, like love, and the perfect metaphoric vehicle for your poem.

    I’m reminded of a dad joke:

    “What did the grape say when it got squashed?”

    “Nothing! It just gave a little whine.”

    Thanks for the read.

    Reply
  6. Susan Jarvis Bryant

    This is a beautiful conceit that hits just the right note for St. Valentine’s Day. From the engaging title to the heavenly closing line, it portrays stages of love that build to a divine climax of heart-touching wonder. There’s much to be said for an enduring marriage… and you say it perfectly. Thank you, Gigi.

    Reply
    • Gigi Ryan

      Dear Susan,
      Thank you for taking time to share your observations. I am thrilled that the wonder came through.
      Gigi

      Reply
  7. Roy Eugene Peterson

    That is a beautiful and heartfelt poem, Gigi with a great concept that becomes “A mellow yet intoxicating blend.” Love it!

    Reply
  8. Gigi Ryan

    Dear Roy,
    Thank you for your comment. I am glad that my heart came though this poem as intended!
    Gigi

    Reply
  9. Christina Lesinski

    Gigi, This is so well wrought and I felt that you did beautiful job in this comparison of love to a grape in every possible way. The fact that grapes can lead to the making of fine wine, better with age that most don’t even give enough of a chance, was such a clever analogy to how love can grow and develop, but how it takes time, effort, passion and purpose, as well as some inevitable pain in the process. Love does not come easily, nor without its share of sorrow. I even see a correlation to the love that Jesus showed by dying on the cross and shedding his own blood, which is represented by wine. Perhaps a coincidence but if so, it’s a welcome one! Wine is definitely symbolic of blood as a grape seems to shed its own “blood” when it is crushed and its juices are extracted. I digress, but your final line was right on the money with the punny yet appropriate: “intoxicating blend.” Lovely poem and filled with wisdom!

    Reply
    • Gigi Ryan

      Dear Christina,

      Yes! I also considered the connections with Jesus’ blood, and wine being “the blood of the grape.”
      The connection was even in one of the revisions of this poem, but the poem needed tightening up, not expanding.

      I’m glad you received from this poem so much of the heart behind it.

      Gigi

      Reply

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