A single stream of water comes straight down across the frame and enters a white cup. On the side of the cup are a gray twig and two berries, and the handle opens in a curve toward the left. The window frame behind blurs and spreads, dividing the green outside into a few pieces.
The wall on the right is a faded orange, and beyond the glass on the left it is still dark green. The steam rises from the mouth of the cup, wraps around the stream of water and disappears upward. It is the light of an early hour before the sun has fully risen, with no indoor lamp turned on.
When you look at a scene like this, the eyes settle on one spot by themselves. About two finger-joints above the mouth of the cup, the point where the steam loses its shape.
When the focus goes there, the jaw loosens a little. Only then do you notice you had been clenching your back teeth, and the path your breath goes down grows about a hand's width longer. The sound of falling water grows lower as the cup fills. While you follow that lowering, the shoulders move away from the ears.
A busy person does not wait for tea, but deals with tea. As soon as the water is poured they pick up the cup and go back to their seat, and set it on the desk without a sip because it is too hot. What disappeared was the waiting, not the time.
If there is tea to drink today, it is fine to follow the steam with your eyes three times before the first sip. Once at the place where it rises, once at the height where it scatters, once at the empty air left after the steam is gone. Three times takes about thirty seconds.
You can try the same three times at the evening dishes. Watch the steam that comes up three times when the hot water starts running from the tap, and check how the force in your wrist is during that time. How stiff the fingers holding the sponge are is hard to know before you look. This is not to say that something gets better, it is closer to simply checking.
The cup fills in the end, and the steam scatters anyway. The few seconds in between are not taken away by anyone.
