viii.

Since I am writing you all these things anyway,

I thought I should note

I love the way your throat

blends with effort into your shoulders,

always hunched, particularly when

you are bent over your work for the time.

And that I shall miss you most

not as we are saying good-bye,

but later when I am rinsing out your cup

still full of tea the way you like

after having, briefly, mistaken it for mine.