63. Swords of Light

Propped up against the wall of my bedroom
two thin crystal swords glow brilliantly white
With one do I swallow and the other impale
ingesting their power and all of their might

Within an instant, I'm called to arms
alone in the dark with both swords in hand
and rise into the air above a small house
and protect all of those who dwell underneath

With weapons extended I turn round and round
three times anti-clockwise - cutting the air
and below me is shrieking, screaming and cries
as shadows are cast out or caused to take flight

And back down to the ground and to my own bed
do I find myself fall and go back to sleep
and when the Sun shines as I open my eyes
I feel my heart smile, way deep down inside

58. From the mouth of babes

Through the eyes of a child
I wake in my childhood bed
to a room cloaked in darkness
except for the moonlight
streaming in through the windows

I step out into the night to a sky
filled with a hundred moons and
my mother hanging washing and
giving me a comforting smile

Another challenge now awaits me
but this time a test of childhood fears
but matched with strengths and memories
before adulthood and a maturing psyche

The moons explode and disappear and
where the darkness now creeps forward
and the cold of night begins to lick and bite
and wrap itself around my young body

Fixed to a spot I sense a being like no other
and with my mouth I hiss and regurgitate
vowels and consonants of an ancient language
understood more by snakes and by reptiles

I have come home, I now remember
childhood nightmares and talking in tongues
but where I was haunted, torn and afraid
I now stand in my power and talk to the dark...

57. Powers of the Night

I leap from my bed and see hundres of moths
who flutter and fall all about my own room
They land on my head, my shoulders and arms
all shades of white and all shades of blue

They cannot stay here I think to myself
and reach for the light switch to bring about dark
They follow the light of the bright shining moon
and make for the window and out into the night

On leaving - the sun, now shines in the room
and choruses of singing is heard from outside
Where there were hundreds of moths I now see
kaumātua or elders singing to me

They sing of the moon and sing of the stars
of songs which delighted me when I was a boy
and a grey haired old man strums a guitar
belting out words amidst smiles and roars

The words of the song perplex me a little
as I hear of a dialect void of an 'f'
and beside me my grand aunt steps into the light
and we watch all our kin of the Pai Mārire faith

Guiding me slowly with love and with light
my elders now sing of the powers of night
They sing of the moon and sing of the stars
and sing, as my tears, fall across my own heart....

56. The Dark Arts

The crystal beside me glows
from the light of my bedside clock
Casting a blue hue across the duvet,
across the curtains and out across the room
In the deepness of sleep I see
it and hear choruses of people
all talking and singing, all laughing and crying

In my mind I hear the
toilet door unlock and then see it open
and standing over me is a
shimmering figure reaching forward
extinguishing the clock's light and
bathing us in darkness

I am not afraid as I have prepared
for this next stage of my life
and sit in my heart with love and with faith
no-longer ruled by imagined fears or
scenarios of my modern day mind

I sit upright in bed holding her to me
as she now re-appears in human form with long hair
She falls at my feet in love and humility
and I motion to join me atop of my bed

With respect she declines as her World is sacred
as well as the impact it could have on my life
But for now, we sit - in love and humility
enabling me, to see into the dark...