Regard this tea pot with great caution
It hides its history calmly steaming
With its teacup and its milk jug
Tea endorsed by Dr Johnson
Solacing midnight, welcoming morning
China product of the tea trade
Bought with silver changed for opium
Carried by clipper ships from the Indies
Leaves plucked by Tamils on plantations
Taxed by England tempting smugglers
Sugar from the slave trade made tea popular
Watered in Boston in strong protest
Prompting a War of Independence.
Less warlike is the peaceful milk jug
(Cows milked in London for the populace)
Then steam railways brought the churns in
From Surrey and Dorset milked by milkmaids
Such as poor Tess Durbeyfield
Preferred to beer and infected water
Vouched for by the Temperance Movement
Le five o’clock a toute heure over the Channel
Tea at four for English gentry.
Now tea is supped in work canteens
By thirsty workmen during shift work
Who’d think a teaset told such stories?
Raise cup or mug in praise of teapots
Drink your tea any time you’d like to.
©Terry Hodgson2020
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