My Tea Cup

I carry my peace in a teacup,

The most beautiful teacup of white porcelain

And ornate blue paintings depicting

The journey of my life.

The vessel for my peace, my teacup is decidedly feminine,

But full of strength and grace

Swirling inside, my peace is warm and soothing,

Calm and sweet with spices and herbs, to add a taste of wild wonder...

In life I have often been careless with my teacup.

It has been dropped and slid, sloshed, held awkwardly,

Cracked, chipped and tipped over,

Quite a bit...

So often lied to, belittled, taken for granted...

Stolen, lost, found, broken,

And had to be put back together many times.

Too many times...

Still, I would pick up my teacup delicately,

Hold it as a treasure and slowly,

Begin to fill it back up again,

Carefully, cautiously, lovingly...

Filling it with any and all of the peace I could find...

Time and fear caused me to guard my teacup,

And hide it from the world.

Stowed away for months at a time in fear of ever bringing it out to see.

This life is too rough for a delicate teacup after all...

But alas I had missed my beautiful unique teacup,

Now full of character though sadly low on peace,

I had felt lost without it,

As though part of me were missing....

And so I set out.

Finding it was half the struggle.

It was hidden for so long you see.

Cleaning it was no mere trifle,

So dusty cobwebbed and stained it had become.

Mending it was still harder,

The chips were long lost and forgotten,

The cracks were so deep,

Filling it was a mystery all together.

Patience, learning and growth helped me,

To round off the sharp edges,

Paint pure white over the aged yellow cracks

To detail new bold blue lines where they had faded in time.

Behold!

A noble and wise teacup,

Ready to carry my peace,

In tranquil beautiful majesty.

Proud of my teacup today,

I am still careful but no longer in fear.

I hold it for all to see,

And pour into it at every chance.

Smiling as I hold it,

Feeling it's warmth,

Smelling the wild sweetness,

Knowing it is mine and no one else's to fill.

My beautiful unique teacup....