Two old people are talking on film
For all the world as if they were living still.
Siegmar reads poetry, his fine voice
Grown reedy with age. Lois listens, then says
That in China, where poetry is chanted. you see
People walking by, chanting to themselves.
The camera pans around the room –
Wall hangings, a lamp, some pictures
A blue teapot; mismatched salt and pepper shakers
(The salt tall and tapering, the pepper short and
fluted,
Their tops dented from many years of use.)
Lois gently runs a finger over the teapot
Whose shape calls for just such treatment.
Who would think I could so miss a salt shaker
Or need to bid a teapot a long farewell?
