Once I was a vessel
Vast and full
Of woods, preserves, essentials
Set sail to a far coast
Yet tea time came
Turned up and about
Emptying contents
Sloshing scalding substance
About the white table top
Creating small staccato stains
Until not a drop remained
And by my arrival in the seaside state
I had tried and obliged too many impurities
To the now nonexistent cargo
That negotiation would have been futile
And the alternatives that filled the ship
For the journey home
Were silly laces and cakes and such
That while they nicened a toddlers tea
Would never be the building blocks of a lifetime