Your blood-brushed hills
With tangled scarlet trees
That line the roadside miles,
Present kahika crowns
Towards the summer skies
From where You grace us
With your smiles,
And grants to us this favour:
The glory of Your Christmas tree,
The peerless Pohutukawa.
Categories:
pohutukawa, christian, christmas,
Form: Free verse
Maori legend
twisted pohutukawa-
the place of leaping
Categories:
pohutukawa, death, mythology, tree,
Form: Haiku
Pohutukawa red bristled rain falling
Drifts down sienna cliffs floats on azure waves.
children swarm, hear the ice-cream van's song calling
sand covered, sticky, happy exploring caves.
Flame tree nectar draws chattering Tui play
White butterfly sails bob clubward, end of day.
Swimmers laughingly frolic while peach sun dips
Shore bound its time for coleslaw, buns, beer and chips.
Categories:
pohutukawa, summer,
Form: Rispetto
Red as blood,
Like a fire,
Burning the cloud,
Reddening the sky.
You come once a year,
Marking the end of a year,
And beginning of a new season.
Rejoice of re-gathering
Always happens at an agreed time.
What about slowing down your pace?
Working is not all of life.
Occasional relax
Helps you understand the whole.
Let’s thank pohutukawa,
She’s got a warm and caring heart,
Reminding us of the year end.
Therefore we are able to look back
All we have done in the past year.
And look forward to
A brilliant new year!
Categories:
pohutukawa, christmas,
Form: Free verse
Pohutukawa tree I wonder
Which of man’s endless bloody battles
Planted you here?
Your venous red needle flowers
Drop to the ground below
Where they lie in corpuscle puddles
Whose mothers are they I wonder?
Lying in the branches
Morning the senseless loss
Of their loved sons and brothers
Pohutukawa tree
Reminder of war’s terrible cost
So Pohutukawa tree be
Keeper of the peace
Categories:
pohutukawa, nature, tree, tree,
Form: Free verse