The White Ship (28) Poem by David McLansky

The White Ship (28)

On Doyer Street
....
....
We sat within the window seat
And watched the L-shaped cobbled street
We sat as lovers on display
Who watch the light slip from the day
....
We sat beside a potted palm
Your tabled-hand soft and calm
A Chinese crone served us tea
She grinned at our felicity
....
Perched in the window, a perfect room
A porcelain couple, richly groomed,
Elegantly sipping tea
Victorian in their majesty
....
But oh, the yearning o'er the pot
May this perfection never stop
Turn flesh to clay and fire it
That we may so forever sit
....
The shadows draped and masked your face
You poured my tea with silvered grace
Grains of sugar in a whirlpool
Swirling in your sovereign rule