Drinking Tea :Celebrating the Ordinary

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Dipping the tea bag
into boiling water,
I am transported across the sea
to terraced hillsides
near the Himalayas
where, for centuries,
people have tilled the land,
tended the plants, and
harvested, sending tea leaves
on long sea voyages
that brought their pungent flavour
from Tibet
to my waiting cup.

Sipping, I contemplate
their lives: rising in chilly mornings,
drinking butter tea,
labouring in hot afternoon fields,
to make their small livelihoods.
A moment spent in the Himalayas,
whose great peaks call my name:
mystical land, home of the gods,
so different from the noisy,
soul-less West.

For this moment, I am simply
Drinking Tea,
thinking of people in bamboo hats
bent over in green  fields,
plucking spicy leaves,
their endless and heroic labour
bringing their aromatic tea,
and this peaceful, grateful moment,
to me.

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Much of my happiness comes from the ordinary "small" moments, which are actually the stuff of life. I am so grateful for it all: tea, trees, sky, changing cloudscapes, dogs with happy eyes and wagging tails. Found this in drafts and thought i would post it. Am heading home today after a lovely family gathering at the farm. It is sweet to know my little place, and the last of my summer flowers, are waiting for me. With beautiful September ahead, and then the glorious winter beaches. Yay!

Inspired by Natalie Goldberg, who celebrates the ordinary so well.