A Tea Bag (to Michelle)

I see you in a tea bag, diffusing out
Like silver mists fogging my path of sight

I’m the water that needs your mahogany
A watery transparent world as empty

As the obsolete color in me.
And you slowly enter through my cracks

The hydrogen atoms that are joined
To oxygen in imperfect configurations.

And I can do no other, but let you dilute
Through me, a little blissed blend

Of orange pekoe, an unopened leaf bud
Flushing out to be a vessel

On my ventral ocean. A pekoe as orange
As the meticulous amber of your fiber.

Unfurling a leaf bud of superstition
In to a flavorsome science

Perfection has blossomed.

Published by Curiosity-driven life (Dilantha Gunawardana)

Dr Dilantha Gunawardana graduated from the University of Melbourne, as a molecular biologist, and moonlights as a poet. He currently serves as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Botany, University of Sri Jayewardenepura. Dilantha lives in a chimeric universe of science and poetry. Dilantha’s poems have been accepted for publication /published in HeartWood Literary Magazine, Canary Literary Magazine, Boston Accent, Forage, Kitaab, Eastlit, American Journal of Poetry, Zingara Poetry Review, The Wagon and Ravens Perch, among others. Dilantha too has two anthologies of poetry, 'Kite Dreams' (2016) and 'Driftwood' (2017), both brought to the readership by Sarasavi Publishers, and is working on his third poetry collection (The Many Constellations of Home). Dilantha’s pet areas of teaching and research, include, Nitrogen Fixation, RNA biology, Phytoremediation, Agricultural Biology, and Bioethics & Biosafety. Dilantha blogs at – https://meandererworld.wordpress.com/ -, where he has nearly 2000 poems. View all posts by Curiosity-driven life (Dilantha Gunawardana)