Dedicated to Jonno… Scholar, adventurer, lifelong mate.


Remember this when pulses pumped
Adrenaline ran high,
Remember this when young blood flew
And almost reached the sky,
Remember when you worked like hell
And sleep flew out the door,
We fought and spat like alley cats
Competing for the floor.
Remember how the days flew by
Exhaustion took its toll,
We wrote the book and sang the song
And acted out the role.
Remember how you smiled at me
And offered me your hand
Remember how we chased the girls
And sought the promised land.
Amazing how we laboured on
Amazing what we won,
We fabricated wonderment
We almost reached the sun,
From dregs of dust we built the dream
And fashioned love so fair,
A million people stayed with us
A million breathed the air.
Our Buttercup was something great
Our memories impart,
The magic of a lifeline shared
A brotherhood of heart.

And so, Old Son, as life goes on
And age doth take its toll,
Remember how that sap once flowed
When you and I were gold.
And friendship forged it’s scarlet grip
Forever more to be
A warming place within our souls
A bond twixt you and me.

Marshalg
Mangere Bridge
10 August 2007

(i only hope that it won't be so sad)

somewhere, in an empty row of trees,
that you still exist
is a truth that i cannot believe

and like the gentle sway of foxtails in the wind,
it is a truth, that can be seen
yet cannot be felt by the heart

when i was young i would squint my eyes and watch
those faraway hills, bobbing in and out of my vision

and as if to say
those faraway days will never return,
the hills in my pillowcase
are easy to see and
ever so close

...

when i close my eyes i begin to dream, what is not a dream but a spring that will one day come to me, and in that spring, looking to find again that empty row of trees, is a scene where i turn my head to home, and unlike some melodrama i can feel the sorrow on my face meanwhile i stare and stare and stare with my heart, yearning to feel something that cannot ever be seen, and that is just like the gentle sway of foxtails in the wind...