Poem-a-Day Challenge, Day 5! (I skipped a few days...)
Tea
there were dark eyes
like embers
or ashes
hidden underneath
the flames
warming
and also a
kettle, silver and
smooth, when
she was calm,
too—understandably,
as cool liquid
is for it rarely
makes a sound, even
upon descent
aromas of unquenched
tea bags kissed the
noses of the lucky
sweetly, and
soon embers were
flames with sleeping
water above
she was
trapped, contained
and utterly unable
to dance with danger
never close enough to
touch without a heart
evaporating
and she was being
watched, unless
it was a mirage that
fell before her steam-clouded
eyes
watched by the flames
asking her to let go
was there anywhere to
go, but up?
warmth ignited everything
and each molecule
moved a thousand
times a minute
a liquid heartbeat
leap and pop
pluck then pop
pop, pop
frenzy, like
those days when
the sun could pierce to
your bone marrow
and a pool of
cool water
rested a foot away
sizzling ensued
boiling maybe
heat that emanated
from within and
from the outside
sang to her soul
a chance to take or
leave forever
she condensed her spirit
taught like a tether
and let the things that
didn’t matter ring a
cloud song to the world
the fire consumed her
as gravity
flipped and silently
effortlessly
trustfully
she slid away
she allowed her heart to
pour downward into
a porcelain catcher
and at the first drop
of her soul everything
that happiness smells like
danced within and around her
free at last,
she was submerged in what the
flames had made her
and no longer
was she alone,
just her cup of
tea
