We are Invited to your Successor's Apartment

We lived among
slender ceramic figures
ivory animals
silk fans
old books
porcelain vases
and red silk poppies

here
in the kitchen
we made coffee
our wok sizzled
we leaned against the counter
gesturing with chopsticks

our bodies came dripping from the bath
now empty porcelain

all gone
now sparsely furnished with Scandinavian
pale wood and earth-colored rug
this place was ours
for a moment in time

we were guests then
as we are now.

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