105. The Aristocratic Salamander

Deep in a dimly lit hall does she stand
noble and regal, smiling at me
A beautiful salamander adorned in a robe
with blazen red eyes and red fingernails

She beckons to me like one of her young
to come take my place alongside her throne
and teaches me all that she has to impart
helping me, guiding me, like one of her own

Vision and balance and opening awareness
are a few of the things which come to bare
Growth and transition while maintaining emotion
help me to manage myself with great care

But all the while she stands and she smiles
gracing me with unconditional love
And as I leave her dimly lit hall
I wake with a beautiful sense of renewal...

104. Beacon of Night

Walking along a sealed country road
and further ahead to Miringa Te Kakara
two plumes of smoke come down from the sky
touching the ground where the old whare stood

I sense a third plume is missing from view
and immediately see it form in the sky
I lift up my hand and attract it's attention
where it flies at me quickly hitting the ground

It forms a straight pathway of which I must follow
leading me now to a stream running by
and in it I step and cleanse myself well
before I step onto old hallowed ground

I stand at the entrance of the old, sacred school
performing my kaupare as I slowly move
my breath comes in gasps and my stomach now fills
so I stop and I wait till the energy changes

Around the foundations I now slowly walk
observing its layout and what it all meant
pinpointing axis from pous now long gone
and stones made of limestone like Solomon's Temple

I sit in the East facing out to the West
seeing the Sun rapidly set
but before it descends right out of sight
a second one rises beyond our own night

I'm called to the West and sit by it's pou
closing my eyes as the Light starts to dim
and beside me I hear and feel people moving
invoking emotions and tears from inside me

Well high above me stars now appear
naturally moving, from right then to left
but curiously there is one that is travelling
from north, then to east, then onto the South?!

Elemental beings of the Sky start to notice
the presence of others at one of their shrines
It heralds in, another great step
reforging relations with the divine...


*Miringa Te Kakara (Star House/Temple)
*Whare (House)
*Kaupare (Prayer)
*Pou (Carved post)

103. New Tenants

I walk into a house that is spotless and clean
no pictures or furnishings or anything at all
just carpeted, warm and seeking new tenants
who'll make it a beautiful home it might seem

I peer through the window out into the night
where everything's black like I'm in outter space
I rush out the door where I'm met by 3 kuia
brandishing buckets and mops in my face

'What do you do here, what do you want?'
asking me loudly with a tumultuous tone
It's then that I realise this house is my body
a vessel all ready for new people to own

I turn outwards and look into the dark
and see scores of others now making their way
towards my clean body, towards my clean house
sharing their gifts with my hands and my mouth

* kuia (elderly women)