...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJiNnZxHNbs

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.

.

I can't recall 

what I was doing before.

.

I think I was

writing an email… or 

moving money 

between bank accounts, 

entering grade data 

into a spreadsheet

or maybe drafting 

bullets

into the stencil of a memo. 

.

.

No, that's right.

I remember now. 

.

I'd just been ironing 

starch

into a stiff, white collar. 

.

.

Afterwards, I'd made my way 

to a tea-cupboard - 

the kind that's usually 

at least half-filled 

with an assortment 

of half-empty boxes. 

.

The one I'd settled on 

had an old lady on the label:

.

big smile, 

one of those modest, 

puritan dresses, with 

plain, black fabric

and little-white doilies 

stitched into the neck. 

.

Beneath the wide

invitation

of her comfortably 

outstretched arms…

.

The logo read:

.

.

.

       Melancholy 

A Tea Made to Steep

.

.

.

It was good, I think -  

warm, floral, fragrant -

but if I'm being honest 

when I try to recount

its flavor

.

it's hard to say

with certainty

.

if I even really remember. 

.

.

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