</>You made me tea
In the earthenware mug
Of my life, with its little chips
Recalling broken moments
...
Clifford Hall (Swami Ashish) has lived in Barbados for 17 years and, until August 2011, was Senior Lecturer in Law, Faculty of Law, University of the West Indies. In 1998 he established the Poverty Law Programme in the Faculty, a programme of lectures, seminars, research output and legal aid clinics. In 2001, he was ordained in the Anglican Church in the Diocese of Barbados after a period of training at Codrington College. In retirement, he is establishing a neighbourhood law centre in Nelson Street, Bridgetown and a 'fresh expressions' group, the Little Brothers and Sisters of the Child Jesus, in the same area. He has a collection of poems in preparation for publication by Cuppa-Tea Press: 'The Love Within'. Cuppa-Tea Press intends to publish other works by Caribbean (and especially Barbadian) authors in the near future and anyone wishing to submit a proposal is invited to write through cuppa-tea.press@hotmail.com)
A Mug Of Tea (After Osho)
</>You made me tea
In the earthenware mug
Of my life, with its little chips
Recalling broken moments
Of error and nonsense.
Darjeeling mug-wise.
A gift releasing love
In fragments too, sipping
Its warm innocence and the
Silence of its music;
Open, like the curling
Lips of its glazed mouth,
To whisperings -
As the bird song snatch
At hurricane's end
From torrents' blanket wetness
To signal all is well -
Steaming away the smothering
Of my mind
Till stillness comes
In the vapoured freedom
Of myself