A simple friendly read, made possible by none other but Alexander Goldstein, comes off as an ode to life in an ideal community where friendships are of purest forms and motives, and where trust and noble pastimes are but a way of life.



Goldetein opens his lines with “Experienced teaman … friend of mine,” which immediately projects his love for life, tradition and originality. His use of the compound word “teaman” breaks the ordinary grammatical norm but strikes a sense of originality and intimacy with linguistic art.



The phrase “a friend of mine,” in my view encapsulates my belief that the writer is in total emotional connect with this atmosphere of perfect decorum and friendly trust being painted in these lines following.



Line 2: “Apportions … quite honestly” depicts both a life of steady enterprise and elegant show of integrity. The adjectival phrase “sacred item” comes off to me as a classic example of metaphor and eulogy all in one, closest in mind to Shakespeare’s use of “… you dress me in borrowed robes” in the evergreen masterpiece, Macbeth. The sacredness of tea in this line is a clear testament to a long standing tradition and love for good taste.



Line 3: “Never proceeding … motives” attests to trust, transparent motives and sense of communal safety and security.

Line 4: “And private … carries on” … Tribute to a society and tradition where selflessness and absence of undue profit motive is the order of the day.



Line 5: “His brisk trade” … Another prominent metaphor, depicts progress and prosperity, even in the face of the fact that the shop is a “tiny tea shop.” The entire Line 5 could as well represent the sentimental picture of a perfect little Island where business is smooth, life is fair and general atmosphere is safe and serene.

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Lines 1, 2: ”Apportioning it … bosom friend” … Another metaphorical phrase depicting equity and fairness. This line also opens up the feeling that the friend and tea shop in context here is an imaginary world existing only in the mind of the writer. One, the use of “Apportioning” reduces this proverbial brisk enterprise to a public service, free-lunch and a fraternity kind of connotation. In the real life, tea shops sell for money. They don’t apportion as in rations. This, I believe would qualify the use of apportioning here as a paradox.



Line 3: “A real success he promotes” … A depiction of progress. A thriving vibrant land full of opportunities.

Line 3 - 4: “… the Land of Hope … accordingly” … No better way to paint the picture of hope and unbelievable general equality!



Line 5: “To one's awareness and thirst” … The concluding line of this ode opens a whole wide spectrum to the unbounding possibilities for pleasure and complete satisfaction in this little tea shop and life in the Island it represents. In Goldstein’s mind, as long as you can imagine it, seek, it, show a thirst for it, you can have it here.



With these lines, Goldstein captures the attention of the reader and creates a curiosity for a romantic experience only possible in this beautiful Island of Utopia and the beautiful artistic mind of a friend who seems to have seen it all and appreciates it all, Alexander Goldstein.

If only the American populace might understand, embrace and reject the obvious in order to experience "...one's awareness and thirst."

so well served

How fitting the the "sacred item" of tea is apportioned honestly. The teaman is a fine person indeed, a rarity these days.