Te pō, Te kore, Te ao Mārama
i walk through concrete rivers
wairua lingering through powerlines
surrounded by rākau
which has been manufactured
manipulated
into the warmth of one’s home
many homes
white picket fences and
sky tower brown
as i look up to Pukekiwiriki
laying at the sickle of this maunga
i imagine i am my tūpuna
the people of Ngāti Tamaoho
surrounded by rākau of lush forests
melodies of te manu engulfing me in its mana
wāhine moving through grub and fern
stripping the white man’s grass off all infinite crossways
i replace it with kōwhai
———————————-pōhutakawa
—————-kauri
pikopiko
all things Māori
to have the indigenous urge to imagine Aotearoa before colonisation
is to be Māori
to be grounded amongst papa
amongst the kūmara pits
their flagstaff will fall
a tohu that we have taken our whenua back
our tikanga
our tāngata
holy hands of concrete statues will reach out to me
amongst the rubble
they will speak reo pākehā
a constant reminder of what they have taken from us
remove the ink of our tā moko
unbury the mass graves
remove our taonga from the museums
reclaiming our reo
they will be at the end of our pū
our rangatira behind us on the path they have paved
tapu tinana
tapu wairua
Aotearoa te tapu whenua amen
Ivy Evaaliyah Lyden-Hancy
Year 12
Papakura High School, Auckland
