A Song of Tea

The first drink sleekly moistened my lips and throat;
The second banished all my loneliness;
The third expelled the dullness from my mind,
Inducing inspirations born from all the books I’ve read;
The fourth broke me out in a light perspiration,
Disbursing a lifetime’s troubles through my pores.
The fifth drink bathed every atom of my being.
The sixth lifted me higher to kinship with Immortals.
The seventh is the utmost I can drink -
A light breeze jets out from under my arms and
Master Jade Spring who rides upon this breeze
To some place where Immortals come down to earth,
Guarded by their divinity, of course, from wind and rain.

- Lu Tong, (Master Jade Spring)
Taoist recluse and “tea fanatic”