Tuesday Poem: "Ruby, the dark-haired girl (1887-1987)"

O grandmother,
though we are Pakeha you had great mana.

You lived close to that taciturn volcano, One Tree Hill,

and its scoria scars were like the lines on your face,

etched out by the evolution of that city.

And, grandmother, you remembered the beginning of the cycle

with the lucid vision you could not afford on the recent past.

I always wanted to tell you that I loved you, grandmother,

with a sincerity you would feel long after you passed

through the gates of heaven.

To tell you that when I was a child,

I believed you would be here always,

but then I listened closely to the silence between your words

and I knew you were weary of this world.

You were the last bridge

connecting us with a pioneer century

and I feared we would lose ourselves if ever we lost you,

but we never did

for in our children and in our children’s children

we will see the face of Ruby, the dark-haired girl.