Immigration

You lie, outstrechted,
like an unexplored lover’s body
sinuous, a powerful presence
felt
stony naked hills
bathed in glorious sunlight
turning softer evening gold
under my joyful glance

Closer to shore, your black rocks
Like bare chests of divers
Unpacking their gear
Right next to where I sit
Tracing, lovingly,
The details of your skin
Crack and scar of past torment
Onto a sheet of white paper

I want to penetrate
Every secret
Cranny and crack
Of your stony history
Of earthquake and eruption
I want to get a grasp
On your essence of rock
I want to get your soil
Under my fingernails

All around me
You blush pink
In the last moments of today’s sun
A place to stop
A place to rest,
In peace, perhaps
On your hard unforgiving body
In the wind turned evening chill
A commitment
To being here.

Wellington, 25/09/03

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