Poetry

Can you see me bleeding?
I have opened my veins for you,
That you may be washed in light.
May your untold sins against me
Be healed in awe.
Look at me,
See my joy,
As I unite,
One with the cosmos,
Atoned with the God of all that is.
I am your mother,
The light of the world.

Send me a rainbow!
Send me a key to this prison cell.
Send me your prayers and dreams.
Please, make me whole and well
And ready to serve.
Or send me death
To tear away this pain,
This loss,
This loneliness,
This failure,
This nakedness before the gods,
This time to go.
Send me a rainbow.

Papatūanuku, my mother, is eating me alive,
Nibbling at my organs,
As if my suffering were a delicacy
That must be savoured ever so slowly.
Oh, Rūaimoko why are you shaking my bones.
Until Tangaroa, the sea, takes my soul.
Is it the scent of fear you want?
Take it now!
This wairua that once was mine.
It was always yours.
But why not let me pass gently
Into Pō’s good night.
Why must all human sins
Become my grief this night?
But before I die,
Your last wish is that I,
Bow down to you,
Oh Papatūanuku.

behind from the quiet man
shouted thoughts of another day
another life
the life you should have lead
but the thing you said
the tasks undone
are calling your name
now you’d rather death
the quiet man to stop
shouting out the blame
and though the room is dark
you take one more sip
avoiding bed
to quell the pain
to stop the voice
the shouting
that’s tearing you apart

E Papatūānuku,
O ngā iwi mātou rā,
Āta whakarongona;
Me aroha noa
Kia hua ko te pai;
Kia tau tō atawhai;
Manaakitia mai
Aotearoa