a proper tea

a proper tea in proper cups,

with proper ratios and prop-ortions,

for proper people with proper fences,

and proper things to talk about:

like property,

a proper formal-tea,

for the suitor and his uncle and the broker,

for the heir and the user and the loser-

a proper tea to sip between,

the sly jabs and awkward gaps,

so there's nothing to say

but something to do.

a proper tea,

for those with taste,

for the lowest of stakes,

how to: take,

with nothing to lose.