Morning Coffee Poem by Daniel Trevelyn Joseph

In daughter’s room on the bed,
We take morning coffee
Laid out in cups on a tray,
The middle one is always mine,
For that is sugar-free.

The talk today was about bits of script
From the movie ‘Paa’ on a progeria child
We saw last Sunday afternoon
In Cinemax behind our house in Bandra
With Red Lounge facilities, at high costs.

I love these golden moments I cherish,
And the cats Puppu and Ammu on laps:
I enjoy the time, and I do not withdraw
To go for walk, read news, nor anything.

For a quarter century after marriage,
We used to take morning coffee only
After she has sipped mine, and I hers
And made it ‘sweet’.

I told Dad in 1995 and he exclaimed
That he did not know that such things
Can be done! It had stopped since
Though I don’t know how or why.

When the woman grows up
And becomes sure of herself,
Expressions of feelings and softness
Are gone, now that there is no need?

I am trying to retrieve partly
By making coffee when I get up,
Happily sit with them, sit, listen,
Enjoying the family being together.