Flame under the bubbling water.
Blue flame. Water ready for tea.
Amber infusion soon to be seeping,
Leaves about to uncurl. Here
Is a tin, a spoon, a cup, an open
Teapot saying, Nobody else but me
To nobody else but you: awaken,
Pour. What are you waiting for?
Copyright © 2017 by Phillis Levin. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on September 15, 2017, by the Academy of American Poets.