Green Tea

From Still Life, Three Worlds by Dai Pan (潘岱). Poem 12.

Not until the end of the fourteenth chapter,
Did I finally break free from my ruminating thoughts,
And hear the conversations around me.

The server asked if everything was okay.
I had been eating breakfast for half an hour.
I nodded, then made myself a cup of hot tea,
Green tea.

Around me,
People were arranging their beautiful lives.
I silently hummed, enjoying the performance of —
The city's early morning calm and tranquility.

Someone said they wanted to bring tea to America,
But only offered milk.
Perhaps you should ask those British,
Whether they can accept green tea bags —
steeped in room temperature oat milk?
How absurd.

If you were to ask Chinese people that,
you'd probably get slapped!

Cite as: Dai Pan, "Green Tea," Three Worlds, Still Life, poem 12, 2025. https://daipan.ink/still-life/green-tea

Still Life 12

Green Tea

Not until the end // of the fourteenth chapter,
Did I finally break free // from my ruminating thoughts,
And hear the conversations around me.

The server asked if everything was okay.
I had been eating breakfast // for half an hour.
I nodded, then made myself a cup // of hot tea,
Green tea.

Around me,
People were arranging their beautiful lives.
I silently hummed, enjoying // the performance of —
The city's early morning calm and tranquility.

Someone said they wanted // to bring tea to America,
But only offered milk.
Perhaps you should ask those British,
Whether they can accept // green tea bags —
steeped in room temperature oat milk?
How absurd.

If you were // to ask Chinese people that,
you'd probably get slapped!