CUP WARMER

His first task upon getting out of bed

Is to mindlessly make coffee and wait

Anticipating the first cup but before that

There is the ritual of the cup warmer

A quarter cup of coffee too hot to drink

In a cold cup turns out to be

Just the right temperature.

Added to the pleasure of the first taste is the

Whisp of a Smile which comes with the

Memory of a moment, long ago, when

There were hopes that she would love

Him as he did her, she had said,

“Oh, I warm my cup in the same way.”

Ah!, he had thought, “She and I have this in common.

We could wake and warm our cups together.”

That was long ago and

Those two cups are forever cold.