Maungarei: 1972

Te Ao Hou, July 1973, Page 63

Maungarei: 1972 We walked up the new road Up Maungarei (Mt Wellington to you) Against the traffic All the way Orderly and tamed Is the ancient fortress now And the tar-sealed road Seemed incongruous Beside the kumara pits Of long ago. But some old magic still holds the hill For, suddenly bright in the sunlight His hair wind-tossed A young man ran up the green slopes “Has he really got a guitar?” you said Then we heard the plaintive strings, played to a goat That gambolled upwards, Springing over the tussocks. Feeling bewildered Here on a sealed road On a tidied-up hill fort Of ancient Maori occupation We saw six children Laughing, perched on a steep bank “Having fun kids?” “We came here to sing,” they said. Rounding the shoulder of Maungarei We heard Po Kare Kare Ana In childish treble voices. And the goat-man called (Could he be a Maori Pan?) The goat, answering, sprang … Strongly from rock to tussock. H. B. Sandall Auckland 1972