Analysis of When the Preacher Came for Tea

I was too young to take a cup of tea
But watched my mother pour his fourteenth cup
And then in pleasurable ecstasy
Saw Preacher Pratt not sip but gulp it up.
Before that strong and greedy thirst was quenched
And marvelling, I'd taken startling count
Of twenty tea bags mother dunked and drenched;
I think that was exact as to amount.
Perhaps his dryness had diminished some
Yet being in his usual social mood,
Say when the twentieth was overcome,
He drank until he might be offered food.
 Extended evening hour festive rite
 Till twenty-seven cups, then purled "goodnight."