107. Women of Potaka

In Te Pai o Nga Pakanga I wake up in a dream
and see scores of young people crowding around me
Laughing and playing and singing out loud
are the mauri of those who renovated this house

Deep in the wall a large doorway opens
inviting me out and into the night
and as I step through it night changes to day
where three Mareikura are smiling at me

I'm given protection, a great orange python
adorning my head as I kiss all the women
and there I am shown old gardens and plots
belonging to families who lived long ago

But a much deeper lesson is conveyed to me
of a time when great magic was seen on this land
They ask to remind all the ones that they love
of the place of their tupuna whaea of old

* Te Pai o Nga Pakanga (Marae, Potaka, Gisborne)
* Mareikura (Goddess)
* Tupuna Whaea (Grandmothers)

99. Freedom

With my eyes to the ground I live life within bondage
seeing only the feet of the malietoa
Accidentally I look up at his face
and instantly taken to be whipped and be beaten

Deep in a dream and in my dna
I see a moment in time, some one thousand years
where Polynesia is centrally ruled
from Tongatapu or the Kingdom of Tonga

Descendants of tohunga from around the Pacific
are born into slavery to carry out rites
Inverted pyramids go deep underground
born on the backs of a lost tribe of Israel?

The gardens and wives of chiefs and of nobles
along with the women who bear chiefly slaves
are tilled very carefully by their very own servants
till new generations are born once again

And to this day have the bloodlines remained
albeit enforced with anguish and pain
where all of our gifts were nurtured as well
but born out of servitude or some sort of hell

*Malietoa (Tongan Chief)

98. African Ladies

African ladies now teach me to dance
they hold out their hands and shake their behinds
As demons and spirits of evil come close
they stamp on the ground and kick out with their toes

They laugh and they smile and turn round and round
while their beautiful clothing brushes the ground
They reach and they jump, they duck and they dive
with voices which cut through the fabric of time

So here do I learn another great lesson
taught by majestic women from Africa
Where some people ward off spirits with prayer
these women dance, away all their fears....

77. Gift from a Lover

Spring approaches and is heralded in
with birds in the air and the buzzing of bees
New flowers open and dance on the breeze
as lambs jump and play, and run across fields

Handsome young guys now smile and grin
making pretty young girls giggle and laugh
and ever so lightly does a warm gentle wind
run over my body and over my face

With a ram or horned horse, at each of it's ends
does a vision, of a brilliant, gold bracelet appear
A gift signalling, his impending arrival
and bringing with him, renewal and life

From the depths of the Underworld will Adonis arrive
having spent half the year with Persephone
God of Man, God of Youth, of desire and beauty
returns to his first wife, the great Aphrodite

Tamanuitera is exactly the same
after having spent time with Hinetakurua
but with birds in the air and the buzzing of bees
he returns once again, to Hineraumati

50. Angels in Chains

His deformed face comes into view
escorting me along the prison cell floors
His body labours struggling to move
but we eventually come to a cold, lonely cell

He opens the door and there lying spread
Is a brutishly handsome and muscley guy
Hands cuffed in irons along with his feet
and a black ribbon bellows, tied to the wall

I find myself close with my foot almost touching
but recoil back as he glances at me
A smile creeps over his face as he speaks
"This will be harder than what we had thought"

He's a Chained Angel, in bondage from God
awaiting a vessel to give up his life
where all it would take to set the man free
is a touch of release and great sympathy

But at that right moment 'She' pulls us right back
and shows me the dangers of an innocent heart
Of one which exists without God, without Grace
an aimless type vehicle, wandering into the dark

And just in time has this lesson been learnt
as the shadows increased and crept t'wards my own bed
Some seeking help, some seeking love
and blindly and openly were all their calls felt

But now as I tire and just before sleep
"In God's name" do I hear, coming from my own mouth
I thank him for darkness and thank him for light
and give thanks for the World and the Universe too

But most of all, as goblins appear
as men come and stab me and as women cheer
I ask for protection and to banish the dark
to reinstate love from his own divine spark

48. Wisdom

Long blonde hair tied back in a bun
the Lady turned and smiled at me
but her mouth was filled with jagged shards
of amethyst to chew my soul

A new direction it would appear
was to cleanse and purify my being
removing and shedding all my guides
and moving to a brand new plane

St Germain with his Violet flame
Kahukura in a purple cloud
and this Lady here with jagged teeth
with the gift of purity and inner wisdom

The Mother Goddess was there as well
cloaked from head to toe in blue
and calmly and reassuringly
takes us both - hand in hand

Weeks weeks later I'm resolute
but begin to cry and shriek and wail
as I strip myself of all the comforts
that Wolves and Angels have given me

At the water's edge I quietly sob
as I sprinkle water over my head
but there beside me floating now
a small twig - a taniwha bobs along

The fear, the anger and all the pain
now subsides and washes away
I get to my feet and stumble along
and notice a plague with the Lake's name

Matahina to see into the dark or
to see the grey areas in all that's around me
Hina's the moon watching over the night
and sister to Papatuanuku

I look to the sky and the Sun still shines
and a white kahu or hawk flies by
and as I sniff and wipe my last tear
I feel the grace of women near...