From Where We Began

A POEM INSPIRED BY THE SURREAL LANDSCAPES OF AOTEAROA’S SOUTH ISLAND.

In a frost-coated memory 

Icy streams mould pebbles like they did when our ancestors were children.

The air is blue,

The smell is green, 

And we are whispering elegies to mountains that have weathered a thousand impossible storms.

In daydreams my mother’s face glows gold,

Horse hooves pound the bog,

And a tiny girl is rescued from the evil river spirits.

A boy washes his face in crystal water

And there are no leaves or trees,

Just barren amphitheatres of land,

Of snow,

Of myth and infinity.

When you exhale mountain peaks hold your breath in their rugged palms,

And when you speak here your words dance a twisted waltz.

The wind shrieks from cliff-tops, roars deeply through valleys, 

And while you laugh the moon clings to the velvet blanket

Holds hands with the stars,

And climbs to where only eagles can go.

In the mountains your dreams are frozen in time

Your memories are trapped in lakes iced over.

Here, there is nothing that hasn’t been,

There is nothing that will not one day be.

Here, I’m sure, is where we started.

Here, I’m sure, is where we are from.