I chased this evening
evening's fade in sunset clouds,
silver tin-foiled filigree
tied to grey-as-granite mountains.

Tinted skirts of hazy
daytime's late farewell lit night's
ballooning moon parade
displayed as fire on quiet shoreline.

Invasive scarlet-swathe
hued day's best forgotten noon
when darker stronghold's rain
rolled dust into cascades of gloom.

Drifted with waning sky's
azure came memory's beams,
pain-shot their spotlighting
shadows still haunting my dreams.

Yet I chased tonight
night's demons away by love's
recall when I saw brighter
his star winking at me from above.

When half the world was blank on maps,
when people still believed in magic,
sounds became muffled
as underground tappings sprung up
in the hills and holes appeared.
Feet vanished for what seemed like days
then flat Northern caps
full of dust, topping faces of loot-happy
smiles shuffled off hazily
clutching large seeds of glimmery gold.
White-knuckled black
fists clutched closely to ribs dead weight
of their findings, bags
of pure alchemy, stones which changed
when kindled in home-made
dirt-hearths, to the hot comfort of flame
keeping away winter's cold.
Nuggets lost beneath time became finds
worth more than diamonds
when, in days of old, warmth could save
peasants' work-worn lives.
Yes, coveted then was possession of coal.

Let's dance till midnight come
And carve our memories through time
So even you forgot my name
You'll still remember our dream

Ye, Oh ye my little ones who patter forth on silent feet
Ye who whisper secretly with downcast eyes, perchance we meet,
Thee who failed, in droves, to vote yet mouthed foul words at what transpired
Across this nation wallowing, wringing hands, feel defiled,
Pray glance now at thy countenance shadowed deep in mirror’s face,
Scan thee there integrity?…. or see thy image thinly graced?
Shoulder thee this burden’s share now burning in thy conscience flame?
….or disdainfully dismiss, absolving thee from
vivid eyes of blame?
Hark the herald Angels sing
so witness thee, thy forsakening.

M.
The White House, Hamilton NZ
23 January 2017