Ode to the Cork Oak

Quercos Suber

Ode for the Cork Oak
     - Quercos Suber

I would like to be a Spanish Oak
that will someday give itself
to wine as cork, to let myself
be shaped to fit the neck
of the sleek green bottle,
to be kissed 
by the broody lips
of the Garnacha or Rioja.
To be cork is to be both
obstinate, holding at bay
the oxygen of the world,
and permeable, taking in
the tint and tannin of the wine,
to know the fruit, the grape,
intimately. I would grow old
for this, this give and take,
this cautious delicious love.
I would give my flesh, let it be 
harvested again and again,
for the chance to be the wine's 
first kiss.  

Laura L. Hansen