Culture & Society

Book of Tea: A Poem

The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed May 21 as International Tea Day in recognition of the long history and deep cultural and economic significance of tea around the world. India is the second-largest producer and consumer of tea in the world.

International Tea Day
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Warmth is the contour of heat; 
history is a contour of us 
A kettle is an unborn fire 
Fire is a relative of the sun 
The sun is a stove of the universe 

Tea is a tincture of thirst; 
tree is an umbrella of the grass 
Sugar is a prism of taste 
Tea cup is a desire of the palm 

Water is a cousin of ice: 
a relative of fog & steam 
Every drink is a silhouette 
of a craving 
Desire is proportional in spring 

A factory is a penumbra of iron 
Tables and chairs 
are shapes of tea clerks 
A church is the shadow of a tea labourer 
Two leaves and a twig are three eyes 
of a Hindu god 

Rains are sweat of a hot summer; 
the sky is a curve of the earth 
I am the shadow of my son 
The monsoon is an umbra 
of black air 

A sprinkler is a translation of rain; 
Indian Ocean is the shadow of the Himalayas at dawn 
and so forth and so on 

I search 
more such similes and analogies standing 
at the gate of Danguajhar Tea Estate 
in spring

Sekhar Banerjee is a Pushcart Prize-nominated poet.  The Fern-gatherers’ Association (2021) is his latest collection of poems.