My black heart lies bleeding

 

 

I ponder sometimes

And I wish that I was white

As the driven snow

 

But my heart is black

Burnt by my misdemeanors

Of life long ago

 

When they lay me down

Will my lies lay with me too

For you all to see?

 

Will those I have hurt

Sing their songs of rejoicing

Or just pity me?

 

And what did I gain

To take that which was not mine

When love was so free?

Our Intrigue

The avenue's near

One end you can hear the tram

The other church bells

 

One a call to work

And but a short walk from it

A call to prayer

 

I answered neither

I only sat in the park

Waiting for Milly

 

And from the center

She walked every day

It was our intrigue

 

Dimensions of love

Are broad it was our magic

It truly changed me

 

But we had to pay

Now we have stains on our hearts

Where love used to be

Blossom

It is pleasantly warm today

The sun is shining and there is blossom out

This is Australia so there is always blossom out somewhere

It is Election Day and the voting station beckons me

Here if you are registered to vote it is compulsory to do so

So I join the queue and bask in the sunshine

The entrance is some way off and we must run the gauntlet

Of the political parties helpers who want to give us pamphlets

These are to tell us how to vote

I refuse to accept them, they look hurt

And seem to say "Why don’t you want something for free?"

The girl in front of me is clasping a bundle of them all

I expect it is the first time she has voted

She is quite short with dark brown hair

As I am tall I inspect her scalp and then the rest of her

We edge closer to the entrance door

She really is quite beautiful

All young people are to the old

She has a little too much mascara on but her eyes laugh

She has flat shoes and I can imagine her toes wriggling as she waits

And she does have a pretty nose

She clutches all the how to vote leaflets

The one for the Greens is on top

I decide she will vote for them

We reach the door and she speaks

“If I vote for the Greens…” she starts

“Where will my vote go?”

I point to the how to on her leaflets.

“In the lower house you must vote for each candidate in order of preference from 1 to 7” I say breathing in the freshness of her young body.

“But in the Senate you may vote 1 against the candidate of your choice above the line and the party will direct the preference where your vote goes if they don’t get in. Other wise you must vote for every candidate below the line in order of preference. I think there are over seventy of them!"

She smiles and nods enthusiastically. “I like…” and here she mentions the female candidate’s name on the flyer.

“Yes she’s lovely isn’t she?”

I want to say but not as beautiful as you.

But I don’t, but merely chat about other things as we shuffle slowly into the hall and wait to be directed to the counters to be checked off the roll and receive our voting slips.

I really love the spring especially when you can breathe in the scent of the fresh flowering blossom up close.

Opposites attract

Of course it was lust

That attracted me to her

And that pout of course

 

Didn’t like me much

But her eyes were on that wad

In my pocket book

 

It was strange really

I filled her with such disgust

I really liked her

Where is it safe?

Where could they shelter?

They felt the tremors above them

Could this be the end?

 

Just where is it safe

Now their homes were just rebuilt

What of the children?

 

Slashing and burning

Oh, do they not have mercy?

Trampling and crushing

 

The cry came again

The community was abuzz

It is the humans!

Washing Day Reverie

Wet washing hung out

I close my eyes then open them

Breathing in the sun

 

Lost in reverie

Some feathery clouds overhead

The drying shirts sway

 

A hole in my heart          

Where your arrows have shot me

My cheek wet with tears

 

They have oiled my grief

My mind is scarlet with pain

O fly inky doubts

 

I will live again

And my flames of grief will

Turn to sparks of joy

Mahuika's Tales No. 2. Rona and the Moon

                           The full moon
 
One day in the winter evening was drawing in and Mahuika had gone around to Hoku and Aotea’s whare to share a meal. Their two children Aotaki and Ahuru were there as well as some other children from the village and they were all playing on the floor inside in the warm.
When the children saw her arrive they all rushed up to welcome her and pleaded with her to tell them a story. She nodded and then said before I start shall we have a look outside and see what is there in the sky. So they all rushed out on to the porch and started looking around. “No, no children it is higher up. Look up there.” So the children all looked up and saw the darkening sky and the stars coming out and then one boy shouted “Look at the full moon there just above the treetops.” The great round shape of the moon could then be seen.
“Yes, look at the moon children, then let us go back inside and I will tell you a story.”
So the children watched the moon for a little while and then Mahuika ushered them back inside sat them down and started her story.

Many, many years ago Rona lived with her husband in their hut in a small village that was next to a gentle river.
One night her husband was thirsty and he said "Rona I want a drink of water". Rona was warm and comfortable in her bed but her husband insisted so she got up to get him water from the taha (gourd) that was hanging up outside. Unfortunately the taha was empty and Rona did not want to walk to the river to get more water. But her husband said he was very thirsty and so Rona stormed out of the hut angry that she had to walk over to the river in the dark. 

She filled her taha at the river and as she was coming back home the moon disappeared behind a cloud and in the darkness Rona stubbed her toe on a big rock. She cursed the moon for hiding its light from her and causing her to hurt her toe. The moon heard her cursing and he was angry with her. "Rona, it is not my fault that you are out walking in the night time" he said.
But Rona was angry too as she was in pain and she cursed the moon again for making her trip. So the moon became very angry indeed, so much so that he decided to punish Rona by capturing her and bringing her up to him in the sky. Rona felt the moon pulling her and she held tightly to her taha full of water  and then to a tree, fighting to stay down on earth. But the moon was too strong and he pulled Rona up even though she still held on to the tree which was then ripped up by its roots and so he brought Rona, her taha and the tree up to the moon with him. And she remains there until this day clutching her taha filled with water and her tree.

Mahuika then said “Let’s go outside again to see if we can see Rona.” So she took the children outside again and pointed to the silvery moon and said to the children “Can you see the shape of the tree on the moon and isn’t that Rona hanging on to it still?”
The children all looked up at the moon and pointed to where they thought where the tree was with Rona still holding tight saying, “Yes, there she is.”

But one little girl shook her head and said “My husband will have to get his own water. I do not want to go to the moon.” At this everyone laughed as they went back inside.