The Song of the Flame

There's something wonderful about stove top coffee
The gushing sound of the water pouring into the cup
A brief parting of the silence in the still of morning
Instant coffee foaming as it transforms from solid into liquid
The foam that comes from within, swirls to the top, and settles
resting

It is the process more than the outcome:
Rinsing the pot, filling it, lighting the range.
The gas sings a little
There's something about waking up
and that song played around the flame
it parallels my brain and the thoughts beginning to alight

But truly it is none of this
Though I appreciate all these things
They are story composed on top of feeling
That for so long I knew not how to explain
But I can tell you this:
There were sailing trips
With me and my dad
Just the two of us in a little boat
And we were close in feeling but rarely in words
these trips tended to close the gap
And I would wake to a small propane range
Singing it's little morning song through the flame
I having just stirred to the sounds in the galley of a pot being rinsed.
I would wait to hear the rumbles of the boiling water
Then sit up and watch my father
He would place a cup before me
and one where he would sit
and he would pour the coffee in my cup
the foam swirling to the top
And he would pour coffee in his cup
And that swirl would come to the top
And I had a feeling I could not explain
Except to say
I love stove top coffee in the still of morning



originally composed 2011 May ?
read at Art House 2011 May 5 with the title "Stove Top Coffee"