Seven Cups of Tea

1. He visits you often. His eyes are sparkling green and his beard is gold. He brings you many small, glittering gifts and tucks them away in places like back of your cupboard and the bottom of the coat closet. You find them after he's left. You smile and drink a cup of tea.

2. He says his job takes him far away for parts of the year. You promise that you understand. You remember his smile right before he kisses you and vanishes into the night. You drink your second cup of tea.

3. You find acorns littered across your lawn. They find their way into your cupboards. They spill across the window sill one night when you leave the window open. The world seems brighter somehow. Lady bugs linger on the tips of your fingers and butterflies kiss your nose. He doesn't return this spring. You suddenly recall that he never gave you a number to reach him at and wonder why you never thought of that before. You drink your third cup of tea.

4. He comes in through the locked door. His clever fingers pry the door open. They pry your thighs open. You fall apart on them and then on him. He laughs into your mouth and you can taste the gold. It spills off his honeyed tongue in tantalizing words. When you ask him to stay, he murmurs reassurances against your ear and you believe him. Then it's four in the morning and he's gone. You drink your fourth cup of tea.

5. It's been a year. You've made list after list of questions, of things to say when he comes back. Each is a crumpled ball in the cradle of your fist. You decorate your wrists in iron bracelets. You paint your lips with rowan berries and you line the doors with salt. You drink your fifth cup of tea.

6. You scuff the line of salt with your foot and hang your grandmother's old bells by the window. You heavily salt the food you make each night and leave it to grow cold on the table. You vomit in the toilet that morning. You find feathers and flowers on your doorstep. You throw handfuls of cinnamon into the honeysuckle bushes and scream at the sky. It doesn't answer. You drink your sixth cup of tea.

7. The bells right every night. You pull the pillow over your head and try to sleep. You sooth your stomach with drops of honey under the tongue. You dream of little ones running around with bright green eyes and golden hair. You pull yarrow from the garden. You drink your seventh cup of tea.