Grapes require pruning
Grapes require pruning to capture
The essence sought by the gods.
Dead, and decaying, vines
Need trimming to the healthy core.
Even many of vital strength
Must be sacrificed if remaining canes
Are to support runners with power enough
To yield the coveted ideal..
Careless judgments, however, must be shunned.
Caution is needed to spare the heartwood,
Central source of the plant's life,
If time, and sometimes existence,
Are not to be wasted on beginning anew.
Trimming is art as well as craft,
Combining speed with care that signals
Intuitive abandon and reasoned reflection
On what is important in achieving the goal.
Not for the timid, the uncertain, nor reckless
If vineyards will bear their potential
Of sumptuous fruit and ravishing wine.
On the morning of the initiation
of another's divorce proceedings.