Useful Things

Sera Taino

The brown ceramic cups
Decorated in painted flowers
Peonies in amber
Meant for your morning tea
We found a pair of them while searching through the used shop
Rummaging for something useful
Something, but I no longer remember what
The memory has long been
Swallowed up in the recollection of those peony fields
Pink on bronze
Hairline chip
On the bottom
Slim handle
Easy to hold
Easier than holding onto you

The fissures inside us were too deep to keep us together
When you left, you took the unmarred one with you

Somewhere, in this boundless world
On a dawning day, soaked in rain, watering bouquets
In the heart of spring
I will sip from my chipped cup
At the same time you sip from your whole one
And remember the smell of mold from the shop’s wooden shelves.