Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A CUP OF TEA, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A CUP OF TEA, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: I have sipped, with drooping lashes
Last Line: Fragrant laurel round its rim.
Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F.
Subject(s): Dreams; Food & Eating; Mythology; Tea; Vision; Nightmares


I HAVE sipped, with drooping lashes,
Dreamy draughts of Verzenay;
I have flourished brandy-smashes
In the wildest sort of way;
I have joked with "Tom and Jerry"
Till "wee hours ayont the twal" --
But I've found my tea the very
Safest tipple of them all!

'Tis a mystical potation
That exceeds in warmth of glow
And divine exhilaration
All the drugs of long ago --
All of old magicians' potions --
Of Medea's philtered spells --
Or of fabled isles and oceans
Where the Lotos-eater dwells!

Though I've reveled o'er late lunches
With blase dramatic stars,
And absorbed their wit and punches
And the fumes of their cigars --
Drank in the latest story,
With a cocktail either end, --
I have drained a deeper glory
In a cup of tea, my friend.

Green, Black, Moyune, Formosa,
Congou, Amboy, Pingsuey --
No odds the name it knows -- ah,
Fill a cup of it for me!
And, as I clink my china
Against your goblet's brim,
My tea in steam shall twine a
Fragrant laurel round its rim.





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