A poem for today

[the_lady_lily]

Tea - Carol Ann Duffy

I like pouring your tea, lifting
the heavy pot, and tipping it up,
so the fragrant liquid steams in your china cup.

Or when you're away, or at work,
I like to think of your cupped hands as you sip,
as you sip, of the faint half-smile on your lips.

I like the questions - sugar? milk? -
and the answers I don't know by heart, yet,
for I see your soul in your eyes, and I forget.

Jasmine, Gunpowder, Assam, Earl Grey, Ceylon,
I love tea's names. Which tea would you like? I say,
but it's any tea, for you, please, any time of day,

as the women harvest the slopes,
for the sweetest leaves, on Mount Wu-Yi,
and I am your lover, smitten, straining your tea.

Comments

[ashfae.livejournal.com]

Ahhhh, I have the collection this was published in, and it's one of my favorites. Despite my dislike of tea. =) Hurrah for Carol Ann Duffy.

[the-lady-lily.livejournal.com]

I am reading the collection at the moment, and it's absolutely beautiful. I also loved World, but thought one poem for the day was enough :)