Time is my treasure
served up as
a steaming cup of tea
our friendship brews.
It goes down smooth
the bitter leaves
balanced with honey
kind, comforting
warm, and true.
I savor our cup
of time together
and cradle
in my loving fingers
the delicate porcelain
of our friendship
hoping, with each sip
it will last forever.
Konigl pr. Tettau Bavarian antique bone china tea set from the 1940’s.
Today at Dverse Poetics, Mary challenges us to choose a treasured object and write a poem that tells a story about it. I chose one of my antique china tea sets. It is from the 1940’s, and very special to me, because it symbolizes quality time spent drinking tea with my daughters, family, special guests, and friends. Although it is old and delicate, I like to use it as often as I can. It is one of those things that I felt I needed in order to make this house a home, and wherever I go from here it will come with me and do the same.
Lupita Eyde-Tucker is a bilingual poet and translator raised in New Jersey and Guayaquil, Ecuador. She is the winner of the 2021 Unbound Book Festival Emerging Poet Award, the 2019 Betty Gabehart Prize, and in 2018 was selected as an AWP Writer to Writer Mentee by poet Maggie Smith. In 2022 her poetry manuscript, "Eucalyptus," was a finalist for the Andrés Montoya Prize from Letras Latinas. The manuscript explores her Sephardic Jewish ancestry and bi-cultural heritage.
Not Enough Poetry 
that is pretty cool….where did you get it?
i wasnt sure if you were having play tea with the kids at first…i have boys so i dont get tea parties often but have had a few with my niece. smiles. def sounds like good times accompany this tea set.
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I searched and searched on EBay until I found it. I really treasure it! It’s the type of thing I could never have when we lived aboard our boat 🙂
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Beautiful set. I would take it on a boat. I love beautiful china. Tea tastes better from it. I’m going to make a cuppa right now.
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Thank you and enjoy!
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Lovely tea set and what a special treasure to share with friends, daughters, company. I take it you collect them, too.
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Well, I do actually have two antique tea sets, so you got me there 😉 This is the only one with a pot though. The other one is Royal Grafton, red roses on white bone china. I bought them at the same time and still have hopes of finding the teapot on eBay some day, but I haven’t looked in a long time.
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What a beautiful tea set it is. It reminds me of my Grandma and the tea parties she would have with fine china with the ladies of an afternoon………I am a mug person, but there is no question that tea is enjoyed more in beautiful teacups. I’m glad that you use them and dont keep them for special occasions. Every cup would be special with that tea set!
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Wonderful how tea can be both bitter and sweet.. Much like the conversations you have.. Drinking tea in real china is a great moment.
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I agree with you that even fragile china should be used with the people who are dear to us. What is the point of hidden treasures?
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Wonderful to be able to drink tea in beautiful china. And both the china and the conversations had are treasures indeed.
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I love the friendship and time shared with drinking tea ~ And those tea cups are so lovely ~ I have one set but for the life of me, I can’t find it now ~ Lovely share, thanks ~
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I love this 🙂 I collect tea cups and miniature tea sets. My mom loved them and she passed it on. You made me smile.
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Really love this poem, and the beautiful tea set that inspired it. Do you know what I also love? The fact that you use these items, even though they are delicate, even though there is a risk that they might break in the process. What good is it to have these things, that are meant to be used, if they just sit on a shelf, or in a cupboard, gathering dust? I did go through a phase of being too, too careful about things. It sucks the joy out of them.
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You are right, Freya! It does suck the joy out of them, and if we don’t use them then they are “just for show.” No offense to my Mom, but she had a house full of these types of things once, none of us children could even set foot in the living room. I know it’s good to take care of things, but there’s a point to where things can become idols.
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I suppose there’s not much point in having a beautiful china set if it remains in a cupboard gathering dust. Very nice take on the prompt. I like how your tea-set has come to symbolize friendship.
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I love that you use the ‘good’ china! Treasures are not so special if we don’t enjoy them, and that takes a bit of risk. Love your piece. Reminded me of tea with my own grandma.
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My mother loved to dust off the good china for holiday family gathering. My wife is more practical, so we stare at it through the panes of glass in our sideboard hutch. She fears breaking something. It is her world, her treasure, not my purview.
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Very beautiful. A lifetime ago, I took Spanish for several years in school–my name was Lupe.
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