Hinemoa

A dream

She laughed quietly

and rolled me a smoke

listening to the night

of the Urewera.

 

Punga fern spread

on the purple evening

drifting over

the valley yawning.

 

She looked up

when a Kaka called

and after a while

she began to sing

 

softly and slowly

but the wildness

of Kohine's child

flared in her eyes

 

to the tall totara

of her people's past

and the pohutuukawa

they had lost

 

of the swift rivers

and the kowhai glades

to Ruru

where he hides.

 

From her pure sound

broke harsh voices

of her ancestors

firelight on their faces.

 

For an age after

her song hung in the hills

until she laughed quietly

at my tears.

 

Reviews

[EMF]

To begin with this poem just washed over me. It took three readings before the feelings could be ignored a little to look a little deeper. The meter is perfect and the use of language stunning. An adult poem for adults.

Faultless

[Mauricio Montoya]

awesome!

[Ron]

He He, read on Writers Cafe writers! Read this and see how real writers produce work. If this does not float you over a serene Kiwi vista you are deceased. There is something almost Scottish in this too. Gripping fabulous words. Wonderful and restoring after reading 100s of poems containing mindless prattle about feelings hurt in juvenile relationships. This is 2010 Keats romantic without excessive word plumes. Just hitting the right notes. I love this. Carry on Thurston!

[little mermaid]

What a beautiful, haunting poem Thurston. A song in itself. It transports the reader through time and space so effortlessly. One to treasure.