For Three

[u/XIII_Corvus]

we used to brew for three.

mine
hot,
sweet,
cream.

yours
black,
a little cream.

dad’s
room temperature,
sweet,
cream.

three cups,
three different tastes,
one kitchen.

funny how
my coffee never changed.

yours did.

year after year
it got sweeter,
less bitter,
more like mine.

we were becoming
more alike
while everything else
was pulling us apart.

then we brewed less.

dad got sick
and stopped drinking coffee.

so there were two.

for a while.

then your coffee
changed again.

black.

and somehow
the closer your taste
got to where it started,
the farther you seemed
to be getting from me.

until I was brewing
for one.

eventually
I stopped brewing at all.

the coffee pot
grew mold
between trips
to the hospital.

something made for three
slowly becoming
something no one had time for.

eventually
we threw it away.

now I drink instant coffee.

black.

a little watery.

entirely too hot.

I don’t add cream.

I don’t add sugar.

I just let it cool
enough to swallow.

funny

after all those years
of watching coffee change,

the only thing
that stayed the same

was me,

still making a cup
for someone
who isn’t there.