PICTURE PERFECT CLICHÉ

Brought by a matronly waitress

Who tells you what not to order

A thick slice of bread

Snugly layered marmalade

With butter in between for salty relief

Before the first tentative tongue-and-lip sip of light cardamom tea

In an old bright plump china cup

On a square table

That seats no more than two

Next to a window

Which shows passers-by in view

And lets the noon sun in

To toast the sepia of an open book

In a timeless English village