Tea and Ennui

"The thing", she said, "about sepia is
(Especially when its staining brown the sea)
It always makes me weepier, this"
-- She went on, whilst draining down her tea --

"...Is because it stirs up visions of the past."
(She stirred, but her thoughts were ulterior to tea)
"And I wasn't even there", she said at last,
"And I can't imagine life anterior to me."