for Grace Chu

Globe of honeyed sweetness
golden yellow
lustrous orange
or blood red
as if the setting sun
had sent an emmisary
here to earth
to fill our mouths
with solar light
your color, texture, flavor
put you somewhere
between vegetable and fruit
and sugar candy
you've earned an honored place
on tables the world over
having travelled far
from your native Andean soil
in past millennia
as far as Mexico
where Aztec farmers
graced you with the name tomatl
meaning the swelling fruit
just yesterday
my friend Grace Chu
claiming a glut
insisted that I take home
these eight beauties
now lying in a bowl
catching the light
that sweeps in through our
kitchen window
eight globes of goodness
gift of her summer garden