The cup sat empty

and beautiful

on the counter,

bits of steam

rising nearby.

A persistent light

snuck through

the curtains.

Another morning,

another chance

for something sweet

or glorious or painful.

What he saw was a weathered ruin,

-and he saw beauty. The lines, the stories,

the cracks letting in light.

She was well-worn, had been used

and was tired of thinking

about which foot to put forward,

sort of missing the point (if there is one).

She felt like a whale gliding through

a thick fog over a fallow field, mixing

metaphors like nobody’s business,

just to remind herself she was alive.

He saw and dismissed her fears

as inconsequential as rain,

knowing rain in torrents can bring

ruin but also life to a desert.