Ode to Tea (new version)

Good morning –

And it is good, to find my fingers

Half-slipping out of sleeves,

And settling around a familiar frame

It’s good to see you at the rim,

My orb of amber sky with milky clouds,

Murky like the morning

The first thing that is done in this undone day

Rippling with the bounce of the bag

Then settling and re-settling

Sitting, finally sulking in the bottom of the cup

With a fat spice-and-paper friend

Gone, but staying, with

Steamy curls and semi-circles and remembered by

My own drowsy smile-shape

It’s good to find you

Always leaving rings on my desk

Leaving not-quite circles, soggy half-moons

Marking every morning –

Round tallies under papers and pens:

A record of late nights and early mornings

It’s good to have you,

Keeping my fingertips warm

And sending me off with a simple start –

You’ve made my mornings sweet and soft,

When I’m alone, leaning against the counter

You’ve made my eyes drowsy,

When my throat is sore and my nose stings

And you have sat quietly beneath

The back-and-forthing of me and

My sister,

My brother,

My friends -

You’ve made my sister smile

Made my brother laugh,

Made my friends gather, around tables

Or stand in circles

Made us mimic your shape

You’ve made a hot home in my stomach

Left me un-empty with pink, kissed cheeks