The Metaphysics of Breakfast: Coffee and Milk

Coffee belongs to earth,

It is first a tree,

then a nut,

then roasted,
over the bodies of more trees.

Finally, it is ground,

into dirt.

And smells like earth, and leather, and musk.

Milk belongs to the sky.

It comes from a beast,

painted with images of impressionist clouds.

It is pulled down and down and down,

hitting pails of metal,

like rain on a roof.

It has no scent,

unless sour.

It is white like the sky and cream

shifts through it like sylphs.

When coffee meets milk.

Poured so slowly,

it is a great conception.

White meeting black

Bold finding sweetness

Swirling together in cups,

which are memories embodied.

And together they soften, and

make bearable the passage,

of earth meeting sky.