Steam rises like a promise / hot, thick, curling around your fingers / I watch your hands, they’re slow, deliberate / stirring in sugar, stirring in thought / my eyes tracing the heat, tracing the scent / it smells like mornings we almost owned / like laughter trapped between sips
You lift the cup, and time bends / the world sharpens / I taste it too / bitter, sweet, necessary / like the way your voice finds me / even before the words come / even before I’m ready / even before the sun knows it’s morning
I want to pour into you like cream into black / swirling, softening, making something richer / every sip a confession / every sip a promise / the table between us disappears / replaced by the hum of a thousand little awakenings / hearts percolating, slow drip / slow drip
We sit, and the world waits / watches us sip / watches us exist / coffee in our veins / warmth in our hands / and I swear, for a second, I could love forever / and you’d let me / and the cup would never empty