sorry

as the story goes i think this is the way of all beginnings, once upon a time, there was a whole lot of nothing going on and then the state of exploration began to discern itself in the art of making tea, and pouring happened and so it rained into less than a thimbleful of infinity and somehow a raven foreshadowed the darkness, two seagulls called to one another I then took the road to the right a heron in pterodactyl flight, i had remembered that it's not the wings that teach us how to fly, but that there are such things as birds that remember the sky. Hi Chuck... thanks for the dance. ~A "The plain man is familiar with blindness and deafness, and knows from his everyday experience that the look of things is influenced by his senses, but it never occurs to him to regard the whole world as a creation of his senses." ~ Ernst Mach

your poetry never disappoints ... beautifully done and I loved what Annamum wrote above thanks to you both love and hugs Jayne-Chloe x x x ("Quote:-For every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it. For every truth there is an ear somewhere to hear it. For every love there is a heart somewhere to receive it.-Ivan Panin")

Ann of Norway "for the discerning reader of poetry, like the tongue taken by fine tea, the mind’s eye savors a delicacy" And in the Book of Tea by Okakura Kakutzo "p 83. ...We must remember, however, that art is of value only to the extent that it speaks to us. It might be a universal language if we ourselves were universal in our sympathies. Our finite nature, the power of tradition and conventionality, as well as our hereditary instincts, restrict the scope of our capacity for artistic enjoyment. Our very individuality establishes in one sense a limit to our understanding; and our aesthetic personality seeks its own affinities in the creations of the past. It is true that with cultivation our sense of art appreciation broadens, and we become able to enjoy many hitherto unrecognised expressions of beauty. But, after all, we see only our own image in the universe, - our particular idiosyncrasies dictate the mode of our perceptions. The tea-masters collected only objects which fell strictly within the measure of their individual appreciation.........." p 25:- ....according to (Luwuh) him, the mountain spring is the best, the river water and the spring water come next in the order of excellence. There are three stages of boiling: the first boil is when the little bubbles like the eye of fishes swim on the surface; the second boil is when the bubbles are like crystal beads rolling in a fountain; the third boil is when the billows surge wildly in the kettle. The Cake-tea is roasted before the fire until it becomes soft like a baby's arm and is shredded into powder between pieces of fine paper. Salt is put in the first boil, the tea in the second. At the third boil, a dipper of cold water is poured into the kettle to settle the tea and revive the "youth of the water." Then the beverage was poured into cups and drunk. O nectar! The filmy leaflet hung like scaly clouds in the serene sky or floated like water-lilies on emerald streams. It was of such a beverage that Lotung, a Tang poet, wrote: " The first cup moistens my lips and throat, the second cup breaks my loneliness, the third cup searches my barren entrail but to find therein some five thousand volumes of odd ideographs. The fourth cup raises a slight perspiration, -- all the wrong of life passes away through my pores. At the fifth cup I am purified; the sixth cup calls me to the realms of the immortals. The seventh cup - ah, but I could take no more! I only feel the breath of cool wind that rises in my sleeves. Where is Horaisan? Let me ride on this sweet breeze and waft away thither." Pardon me for adding so much, but it is tea we are speaking of isn't it barbsdad and as such relevant? As you see I liked the first bit completely on its own! Love Ann a lover of tea.

This is quite witty and funny Chuck...well done. Rosina xena465

Ginger tea is estensial for those with unsettled stomach issues. Just right.. Ah that Dear Bard. is the Art Of Tea.

Chuck, the first stanza could stand all by itself, but you flavored it and did a great job at that! ___________________________________________________ Income-tax forms should be more realistic by allowing the taxpayer to list "Uncle Sam" as a dependent Anonymous

“for the discerning reader of poetry, like the tongue taken by fine tea, the mind’s eye savors a delicacy” JUST GR888888888888888 WORDS SPICEY too Thanks LOVED That you found time of/off??? Ur routine to read, comment and message me, Shows me the way through the tunnel of a lonely poetic sojourn Perhaps there is light at the other end as someone waits with a cup of tea, as sweet as your poetry, for me. LOVED

Me too! That's why I take my tea plain (or with a spot of brandy ;) Always, Cat

Ann of Norway That was not in order to make her taste it but to send here imagination into the mountains and woods of Norway and to for her to smell the perfume of the newly sprung, sticky, tiny dwarf birch tree's leaves and feel outside, away from her confined flat and free as air. The scent is so wonderful, but of course not for those with allergies!!!! Birch is bad at that, and fills the N. air with clouds of it as there are so many graceful white stemmed birches here. Yours Ann

Ann of Norway Cha is tea. Sencha is a Japanese green tea and when I first tasted it I didn't like it, but the effects were like magic and then on reading about all the positive things about the drinking of this tea, well I was sold on it. Being British we have drunk tea since we were tiny, so that is something automatic like that of drinking coffee, those drugs that, like religions one becomes addicted to, are made more important than they are. My grandmother Young went to the DR. in the late 1800's and he told her she had tannin poisoning, drinking too much strong tea, ever after our family drunk very weak tea. Its all a question of influence, whether it be of custom or as health aid, or because of a religious fervour, we just drink it out of habit. Ann with my cup of Sencha beside me here!