House on Elizabeth

From the rails to heaven's door
Winara, He awa and historic seddon
Northic pine roots spreading
Under the eyes of Hemi matenga

After the road curves straight
like life should right and not too late
That winter moon booming over the tree ridge
200 metres above where my eyes should be and not budge

Just a strong stone's throw
from the where the farm cattle grow
A tiny existance, the hill bush my temple
Silence and the chilled breeze, simple

Under the tall dividing poplars
arum lillies burst upward flares
creating playgrounds of magic and spells
For the curious ones new to this world

the old orchard off limits
Called us in like ghouls to a haunted cave
I was left to convince the brood to be brave
Fruit and adventure to the river and away

I never felt the cold when I was young
Everything was a mystery at 62 elizabeth street
My soul umbrella still lies open at the base of the hill
As if I knew each household, it's people and contents

Like my bones were the dried riverbed
And my blood fed the ever fruiting citrus
From the rails to the doors of heaven
Where exotic and native forests kiss

In a valley where souls were turned away post tangi
Unable to enter save for one slave oh,
his name was Toenga kainga a timid damned fellow
who I met in the gum trees near the devil's elbow

I knew that bush and the earth there like my face
The bark and the stones and every leaf's taste
That serpent of a river, just a trickster changing places
Up to the macracarpa head
On that small bald hill face