CUP OF TEA

Taking the time
to have a cup of tea
with each other,
mother and daughter,
at least three times a week –
for at least 17 years now,
slowly sipping
each other’s words,
softly slipping back
into each other’s lives.
Time lost. Time found
in the early afternoon.
Slowly, the warmth
of the cup in each other’s hands
becoming a thanksgiving meal
with just tea and rye bread,
cold butter and marmalade,
then pushing mom’s wheel chair
to the window, so she can
wave to her daughter
when she gets to the parking lot,
her daughter needing to get home
ready to welcome her daughters
home from school,
the same outward ritual,
but this time with cookies
and Coca Cola – but they will turn
to rye bread and tea
20 years from now.

© Andrew Costello, 2007