SAKE LOVE

by Diana Raab

I have always loved sake.

With first sip,

a soft glow,

like Christmas tree lights

in my chest.

A medium once told me,

I was Asian in a past life,

Perhaps I knelt or slept

on tatami mats,
hands wrapped

around a porcelain teacup,
steam rising like a prayer.

I must have known rice language—

how it bows in the field,
and yields to water and time,
becoming clear, luminous,

fermenting into sake.

Sake does not burn.
ands reminds me of the curve

on my childhood tiled roof,

and how I loved walking barefoot in the rain.

At my age now, I love its health benefits—

amino acids and heart-protecting polyphenols:

my rationale for sipping

from a small porcelain cup.

Ancestor spirits are

poured into each cup

and fill me with gratitude.

And every time I say
I love sake,
what I mean is:

I have walked myself home

With each sip.

BIO: Diana Raab, MFA, PhD, is a memoirist, poet, workshop leader, thought leader, and award-winning author of 13 books and editor of three anthologies. Her work has been widely published and anthologized. Raab writes for Psychology Today, The Good Men Project, Sixty and Me, Medium, and is a guest writer for many others. Visit: https:/www.dianaraab.com.