Naomi Shihab Nye: "The Tray"

Even on a sorrowing day

the little white cups without handles

would appear

filled with steaming hot tea

in a circle on the tray,

and whatever we were able

to say or not say,

the tray would be passed,

we would sip

in silence,

it was another way

lips could be speaking together,

opening on the hot rim,

swallowing in unison.

"The Tray" by Naomi Shihab Nye, from 19 Varieties of Gazelle. © Greenwillow Books, 2002.

Photography credit: "Little white cups, a tray, and a textured porcelain pitcher," by Laurie Goldstein (originally color).