Meg Ryburn (Rangi Ruru Girls' School, Christchurch)
Monbretia
Late-summer-green leaves
Trail lazy fingers through tired brown water.
My schoolgirl shoes and white ankle socks
Plod steadily along with my down-to-earth kilt.
The toi toi and flax rise high above my head
With its neat blonde plait.
Suddenly my eye is caught by the bright monbretia;
Daring orange amongst the placid green.
Drab thoughts of homework and Hamlet
Fleet as effortlessly from my mind as
Murky water flows under the bridge beside me.
With that one sight
T houghts of you
B ombard all my senses.
"Mombritches?!" you said hesitantly, jokingly,
As you tried to remember
The name I had taught you.
I didn't care, soaked through and covered in river mud
I laughed.
I instructed you to look at the sunset
And you told me about cricket
As our arms moved in sync while we paddled home.
