Boys, Please Dont Rock the Boat

  The boys are restless, 

Māui-tikitiki-o-Taranga

And his brothers

Treading lightly

Enough for atua but

Creating the tiniest crack --

A devastating splinter

For mere mortals.

And we watch in fear,

Those who infest the fish.

We watch and listen from afar -

"Kauaka tikoki e te waka"

Knowing your music is

 You                  Not ours.

                                                            are

      shocked.

             All are shaken,

                overwhelmed, relieved,

                 for, in this place we hold life is sacred.

         Families, friends, the cleanup crew,

           no one forgets the North waits

                                                             for Maui to

               carve

                               the fish

                                we

                                        pretend

                                               is

                                                        land

Alicia Ponder

I felt the earthquake was the province of people who had lived through it. That raw emotion belongs to you who lived through it and are still living through the aftershocks. Still something like this doesn't pass anyone in New Zealand by, we all know people who are affected, so this was my take, a little late. Hopefully there's some kind of balance with North and South -- apart but together. Also if anyone speaks Maori feel free to tell me if I've stepped wrong. I was using online dictionaries for hours to try to get the phrase "don't rock the boat". Which was a bit of an eye-opener, because I thought it would be dead easy. And it wasn't - a bit like the shape itself. :)

PS if you want to know about quakes in your corner of New Zealand - why not check out GeoNet? It can give you updates, either choose your region or check out the overview.

A..J. Ponder - Amazon author page