Wanderings

Friday, April 07, 2006

Faith


I found faith today in something so unexpected, so small, that its too embarrassing to admit to. So I'll keep that to myself. (incredibly evil of you!) But I remembered something else that gave me faith - incredible how the mind dredges up things.... A mist-filled day at Karekare - the presence of the place undeniable. At a time when the worst in human beings manifests, the land belies the evil that can be..... I understand the protectiveness of the tangata whenua - and I respect it. The desires of humanity simply must be kept separate from such things - there is no connection except for the impossible impressions of a place, a time...a necessity of being.

And on a day when I recalled faith, I received a poem - sent to me from the US, my friend Lesa in Oklahoma, written by a New Zealander. Again, I can't even attempt to deny the global village notion of the universe. It was there before we even coined the phrase...the interconnectedness of all things.


THE Bird

My grandfather was a bird.

Underneath his white hair
he wore crayon-coloured feathers.

They were of broiling gold
and of burning red
and of drowning blue.

One was green the colour of a single blade of grass.

When he walked ahead of me
I could see from his stride how he flew
in the branches of trees.

When his hand curled in my hair
I could feel him perching around me.

When he worked on the end of a shovel
I found how his arms spread wide in a turn.

And when he stood over a bed full of flowers
I saw that his eyes gathered what shone
on the ground for his nest.

When he was gone I remember him sitting in a tree
in a garden which he had planted.

And all the cries of morning were around him.

-- Glenn Colquhoun

3 Comments:

At 2:28 PM, Blogger pohanginapete said...

Glenn Colquhoun's a wonderful poet, and I love that particular poem. Glad you've reminded me of his work; I must borrow his book again.

 
At 4:02 PM, Blogger KSG said...

Thank you for the feed back, Pete - and yea, he sure is. Enjoy your resdiscoveries - and discoveries... :-)

 
At 7:15 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ataahua...what more can one say?

 

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