Stilled Time

On a small wooden table in a quiet room,

a cup of oolong tea remains warm beside an old teapot.

Steam rises slowly before fading into the afternoon light that slips through the window.

Within the scent of tea, there is the faint laughter of two generations.

Gentle words repeated with calm voices,

stories about living simply and being a good person in your own way.

That day, we might not have understood everything.

We simply sat and listened out of habit, as we always did.

But as time passed, those voices began to echo again in the silence,

as if every word had been steeped into the lingering scent of tea

that never truly faded from the cup.

Stilled Time is the moment suspended between words and silence.

It is the scent of warmth that remains, even after the giver is gone.

And it is the reminder of small moments in life

that becomes the most meaningful when time moves on.