"Chatterley"
Scent of rain splashed honey tastes of crushed scarlet cherries
touched naked breeze of soft golden wattle kisses velvet quivering Chatterley
pressed against the wet weeping willow, shivering shimmering bluegum ghost leaves
(LadyLabyrinth / 2023)
From toothed alps to McKenzie High Country
to hardwood alpine forest and fernland,
there rises the jewel Aoraki
out of the jagged ice age peaks so grand.
And polar winds at its rock face below
chill Lake Te Anau’s willow and bluegum,
where the frozen wild lowland tussocks grow
and rainbow river trout and salmon run.
Behold plains and valleys when spring has shone,
hear the cloven hooves scatter asunder,
climb Arthur’s Pass to Milford Track and yon
to glacier and fiord and rolling tundra.
Stretched from Cloudy Bay to Bluff on the sea
thunders the sky father, Ranginui.
Written: April 1996
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