Morning Coffee

Morning Coffee

Copyright, 2006

Jotted on a napkin in the local Cup and Saucer

This morning I went out

to get a cup of coffee but actually

to eavesdrop a bit.

It's not the slightly stale brew

Or the hot, overpriced muffins and processed spread

That prompted the trip to town.

It's the circle of retired men next to me

Who sit and talk and smile,

Doctors, lawyers, carpenters, truckers and farmers.

College men, technical men, husbands and widowers.

All retired,

And on the same footing now,

Careers' end has suddenly equalized

breeding, education, lineage and ethnicity.

Now they sit with their packets of sweetener,

Gossiping about

Their cholesterol and sugar levels, the fishing trip to Canada,

their wives' illnesses, their new time-killing projects.

I sit nearby,

Getting a vicarious insight

into lives that long for companionship and connection.

Lives that once collectively scoffed at morning kaffee klatches

Events that reeked of wives and mothers

Boredom, longing and escape.

Suddenly they know

How comforting it can be

To start a long day with coffee, tea and talk.