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....

75. Stripped of sound

Putting trim milk in my tea
I turn to see the lounge no more
In it's place - an ugly Vortex
a spinning dirty, big Black Hole

I calmly turn and walk away
ignoring things which don't exist
and through the hallway of the house
are doors no more but Galaxies

Sharp headed creatures with dark black skin
crawl along the walls and ceiling
and upside down they leer at me
smiling, swiping and grinning too

My partner starts to see a shadow
and flatmates begin to feel uncomfortable
they feel as though they're being watched
and the house is really cold

Growing fearful for my house
and all my friends and family
I put myself right in between
Hell itself and those I love

From deep, deep down inside my stomach
resounding from within my heart
I begin to say a little prayer
until I start to cough and choke

I begin to shout and start to stammer
opening every door and cupboard
until I'm in my own bedroom
where total darkness engulfs me now

It's here with me in my own room
with nowhere else for it to go
and trapped with me I now begin
to greet the Heavenly Departed

Instead of might, instead of hate
instead of anger, instead of fear
Nervously I greet these souls
with humility and with grace

As I urge them on their path
towards Te Reinga and the Light
the darkness now begins to fade
as the Sunshine comes back in

I take a turn about the house
and hear my whare (house) stripped quite bare
where sound itself now echoes softly
off the walls and off the ceiling

53. Hauora Waiora

I turn to my partner whose stricken with fear
his eyes wide open and almost in tears
I look straight past him and see the door open
turning instead from it's opposite side

Fear and darkness now fill the room
so I leap from my bed and onto my feet
Objects now move with sinister smiles
plodding and moving slowly twards him

I lay hands apon them and say the Lord's Prayer
but falter and cough and forget all the words
"Go into the Light" I hear myself shout
and blow cross the top of them watching them fall

I glance at my partner whose no-longer there
instead a poor soul's thrashing on our own bed?!
I straddle his body and hold his arms down
and dribble saliva three times in his mouth

"Go into the Light" I say to his demons
while using the sacredness of my own spittle
After 3 times his body succumbs and his face
all forlorn is now sweet and serene

In times when my voice or words may escape me
I know there are other tools I can use
Tāne breathed life into the first maiden
and whose very own water cleanses the soul

Blessed are we whose body's a vessel
guided and used by all that is good
For it is not us who does all this work
but the spirit of others and all who come through

10. The cost of knowledge

The casket lay open with his small, frail and naked body
laid out showing his vulnerability in death
But, as I moved forward his eyes slowly opened
his arms unfurled and his long fingers reached for my ring

What did the dead require in return for knowledge?
The cost was life - was mauri, enabling him
to be strong and invincible once again

But in no way would I give human life or human mauri
What I gave was the mauri or essence of love, of aroha
Mauri I could grow and replenish over and over again

I walked past seeing a beautiful
black dog cut down in the street
I called out to her making her rise once again
Her protective mate standing over her
demanded to know what I wanted in return
Just knowledge - just knowledge

The darkness enveloped me and shadows
from the essence of the night itself
stood silently waiting for me to ask, and to pay a price
Beautiful creatures of cunning and deceit
also came revealing a score of men and women
now bound by a transaction made with the dark

It is now that I realise knowledge had a price
that the dead revealed truth
that animals communicated
and the darkness itself once gave answers
but all at a cost - all at a price

7. Strength through love

Lack of compassion filled my heart with fear
forced my eyes shut and made me play nursery rhymes
about god in my ears

Lack of compassion saw nights of terror
endless days filled with worry
and impending horror with the setting of the sun

But love and compassion - that's a different story

Love and compassion now made me laugh and take pity
on shadows that screamed and howled all around me
Love and compassion made me reach out and guide
the lost and forlorn to safety and rest

But love and compassion now give me the strength
to ask - if good or bad, is its actual intent....

1. Hiringa i te mahara

I was witness to the daily life of tohunga
I was a star looking out over the African continent
And with my hands I took Luke Skywalker's light sabre
bringing it down apon an atom splitting it in two

From the recesses of my mind
and with fear in my heart
I called out into the darkness of the dawn
summoning the epitome of evil
With invisible amour it stood over me
shimmering in silence
and filling my world with utter fear and despair

The tohunga's words wrapped and enveloped me
then the water received me
My unconscious mind refused to dive
and while fighting myself
at my face did Tangaroa scratch and bite me

I was both shark and prey
thrashing and diving, thrusting forward and recoiling
Until I met my foe with wide eyes opened
and seeing nothing but a myriad of blue
and the calm and depth of Tangaroa's mind itself

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