Noble Rot

By John Barr

A fungus, fittingly called "noble rot,"
takes hold in vineyards at the end of harvest time.
Robert Parker

At season's end
a few are left on the vine
to mold and frost.

Gathered by hand
for harvest wine,
yielding perhaps a single glass

at meal's end–
as I would be: wizened
and full of nothing but sweetness.