public static Map<String, List<VertexProperty>> getProperties(final TinkerVertex vertex) {
        return null == vertex.properties ? Collections.emptyMap() : vertex.properties;
    }
@author Marko A. Rodriguez (http://markorodriguez.com)
tinkergraph-gremlin/src/main/java/org/apache/tinkerpop/gremlin/tinkergraph/structure/TinkerHelper.java