62. Elemental waka

The afternoon sun shines down upon me
as I find myself down the back of the boat
the day has been beautiful with unending love
but it's time for the Elements to return to their homes

Creating a wake with my hoe in the water
the waka slows down and moves to the jetties
Spirits of faceless people embark
back on board to the songs of all of it's passengers

Our waka is led by one, single woman
who sings with beauty, bravado and love
As her songs touch the ears of all of God's servants
they're reminded it's time, once again to depart

Fully extended my oar pushes off
from the riverbed floor way down below us
We move into the current of fast flowing water
and out onto the stars and into the night.

61. Papatuanuku

In the dim, dark corner of my mother's wash house
a young Papatuanuku stands forgotten and alone
She wears her school uniform off her small frame
a cardigan of dark green and a tartan, green dress

Lost and forlorn, tired and forgotten
her young body trembles from exhaustion and cold
She turns to face me with dark, hazel eyes
the sadness of which, goes straight to my soul

She once was revered and held in esteem
and where prayer and ritual were offered to her
But here she now stands amongst laundry and litter
relegated and sent to the back of the house

She gave rise to the Sun and a bed to the Moon
and fed civilisations for a million odd years
but no-longer can she, now feed or sustain
the appetite and hunger of modern day man

I take from my bag a pounamu stone
which sparkles and shimmers bright pink from my touch
As she takes it in hand her hazel dark eyes
begin to turn yellow and brilliantly gold

Our Papatuanuku will soon come of age
where her body will grow and her spirit will soar
and spiritually we will have to evolve
no-longer sustained, by those things of old...

60. Old School

Tirelessly the children are working
fashioning weapons from human bone
warrior's teeth adorn sacred necklaces
and tibia wands bound with flax and with hair

With their innocent hearts and innocent minds
they begin to create, great weapons of spirit
and all the while, they laugh and they smile
as they dutifully work through ancestral remains

Further afield I walk round a house
brilliantly carved with 4 doors at each end
The House of 4 Winds or of 4 Directions
Miringa Te Kakara, a Star House, a Star Temple

God's Temple or Tent is also it's name where his treasures
flowed through to the World with each day
Through spiritual ritual and customary ways
were arts and crafts made, and song and dance played

So once again, will the Star Portal open
where humans and fairies will soon re-convene
The Ancients of Old and Us of Today
ushering in another new age...

59. Evil

At the foot of my bed the air shakes and it quivers
Flared nostrils appear on a menacing form
glowing dark red and orange it lunges towards me
strangling me and pinning me down

Held by my throat I hear a small prayer
and rise off the bed forcing it back
Crushing it's spirit with my own body
I snarl, "Get the fuck, out of my room"

The following day my footsteps are haunted
whispers are heard and shadows come near
The air still shakes and quivers at times
and fear and sadness will not go away

Settling in atop of my bed
apprehension and fear begin to seep in
so I confess to my partner of what had transpired
and am told that was me in a menacing form

That was all of my hurt and all of my pain
all of my anger and self deprecation
Where I forgave others for all of their sins
I dwell on my own and punish me so

My heart starts to sink as I start to recall
that apparition in menacing form
of anger and hurt and nostrils which flared
glowing brilliantly orange, blue and then red

In the dark of the night he appears once again
where the air shakes and quivers right beside my own bed
but this time I clasp him to my own chest
and sit in forgiveness, compassion and grace

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...