Coffee Moments Poem by Daniel Trevelyn Joseph

We live in Bandra East, the three of us
Me, Tilaka my wife, and Joti my daughter.
Mostly I make coffee for them, for I am
Awake before them, finished my walk too.

I go to kitchen, select the vessel, and pour
One and a half cup of milk from refrigerator,
And equal amount of boiled water from bottle
And light the piped gas stove.

I have opened the kitchen window, which looks
Out of the hospice building of Ernest Borges
Supported by Tata Cancer Hospital, and on
The other side the Guru Nanak Hospital.

Outside this opening the crows appear,
Demand, caw-cawing, to be fed especially
If my wife makes morning coffee:
She claims it’s her dead mother back as crow!

Today, one male sparrow with black bib sat there,
And chirped continuously: I felt helpless, for
I could not understand his language at all,
And merely gazed at his restless body-shifts.

Milk was ready to boil, and so it does
With millions of bubbles coming up,
Building up like one of those sea-creatures
Their coral homes one on top of another.

I put off the gas, and with holder
Pour milk in those three cups
Laid on a green tray, where I have
Sugar and Nescafe powder already put.

The middle cup on tray I keep for myself
And there it is is sugar-free tablet
For my diabetes of last ten years:
Middle, because I forget which is sugar-free!

Now I take a small plastic plate,
Pour some milk, and heat a bit
For the youngest of the six cats
At home, and coax her to drink.

Sometimes I am not attentive, I’m 65 now,
And the milk has boiled over, in a flash,
Spoiling the stove; and, to avoid ‘firing’
I quickly wipe it clean by wet duster-cloth.

Then I go to open my daughter’s door,
Take the tray in, keep and go to wife’s
And she comes and we three sit on
Joti’s bed, and drink morning coffee.

I take it from the cup, wife from saucer,
And Joti depending on her mood, decides.
Ammu the ugly cat insists on sitting on
Either’s lap, with Puppu keeping distance.

I like these private coffee moments
Early in the morning, and treasure
The family reactions, and day’s plans -
An oasis in our dry, drab modern life.