(Maori cave burial in Lake Hauroko, Southland)
Draped, cared & sung for,
she is ferried by canoe, cheek, shoulder,
placed in the cave & cradled for guests –
her face to the wind & light of the lake:
her cave is sounded,
her island is graced –
cave, land, water entrusted
so that this land becomes
a watershed
of peace -
will rain on the lake & the river,
and take the magic
through steel, bolt & bar
to the sea, unending.
I walk the beach
with a bird skull
in my fist;
my thumb press,
caress, is silk soft
across bone.
When I return
to the cottage,
I will empty
the cranial contents -
grains of sand -
one
by
one
to the grass
and watch the flow
of silence
and falling air.