Samar

 

Samar (Arabic, noun): staying up late after the sun has gone down and having an enjoyable time with friends

 

I savour my tea in brown solitude,

The warmth in those sugary sips of few,

Dissolve the weariness of the day –

Ah! Sweet little joys, how I yearn for you

 

But as the sun goes down,

I see in violet skies, a lonely star,

And I realise - there are two cups of tea to be had,

Their sweetness rests on who you are

 

One, like this evening’s brew

Sweet solitude, in a strong cup of chai

Unwinding yourself, you reel through the day

The good and the sad, the low and the high

 

The other, is for company

Brewed in a saucepan batch for a few

Tea that cares not for perfection,

Not sweetness, tannin or that book-cover hue

 

That tea is tea, not for the taste

That tea is bonding, perhaps with the best

Like-minded souls, all-forgiving friends

The evening turns a Friday, sundown a fest

 

You can buy the first cup wherever you go

Darjeeling, Da Hang Pao, expensive ones

But the second one, priceless, without a tag

Cannot be traded for a thousand suns

 

Lucky are those who still sip that tea -

Samar of the Bedouins in desert sands,

Chai-Shai in neighbourhoods long ago,

 A reel of memories from distant lands

 

The sun has set, and the crickets chirp

While the evening star says a silent prayer

My drained porcelain cup looks back at me –

Perhaps it has been empty now, for many a year….

 

27^th Feb’ 2025