ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

The Tea-Bag

The tea-bag is a marvellous invention,
And yet it scarcely ever rates a mention.
There's endless talk of billies on the track.
Of talk of tea-bags, though, there is a lack.
How much easier is it to brew
A mug of steaming tea, I'm asking you,
With just one bag, instead of all the guff
That seems to go with living on the rough;
A bunch of leaves tossed loose inside the billy,
Then swung above the head. It's all so silly.
I'm not a bushie, just a simple dag,
But always, I'll defend the humble bag.
The tag, it's true, will often jump the string,
But this frustration still would never bring
Me ever to abandon my affection
(Though the makers should, of course, make this correction);
Apart from this, I cannot find a flaw
With its design. Oh yes, there's one thing more.
If I leave the bag alone too long,
I sometimes find the brew becomes too strong.
On lifting it away, I've always found,
It drips hot drops of tea upon the ground,
And so I briefly will ignore my thirst,
And squeeze the sodden tea-bag drier first.
There comes a stab of pain (it never lingers)
As the soaking tea-bag scalds my naked fingers.
Yet, these are but the tiniest of quibbles.
A steaming mug beside a plate of nibbles
Will lift my mood, if ever it should sag,
Especially if fashioned by a bag!

Stephen Whiteside 27.10.2014

Good on you Stephen, you've plunged in with some lively accentual metre.


p.s. I always use loose tea. I've got a little mesh basket for the mug.

Plunged? That sounds like a coffee pun, Neville!

It does I didn't realize.

"plunged" in - as good a coffee pun that's bean.

Leaves my tea pun for dead.

You should try to take a leaf out of Neville's book, Marty.

Tea pun? Isn't that some sort of deadly snake?

Let's raise our cup o' Billy Tea
To Stephen's capability.

you can lace a mug of coffee with rum but she don't taste much good with tea

Billy tea is very nice, (I know, I've tried it once or twice.)
but tea bags, well they do the job, and make me no more of a snob.
but swinging billy's over head, I hit it with a stick instead,
it makes the tea leaves sink you know, (the swinging's really just for show.)
(unlike the Doc I'm not a dag,) I've spent some time in bush and swag,
but nowadays when I choose to camp, it's teabags and a 'lectric lamp,
I still sleep in a dusty swag, (that stops me morphing to a dag)
So black and strong, but piping hot, a bag or billy matters not.

Good on you Ross Black and sweet she sure is neat, tapped with a stick is better than the handle coming undone