Tea

Poem-a-Day Challenge, Day 5 (read: Olivia is really bad at this...)

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

~Olivia