I receive a postcard from Jerusalem
to say that Mother Aubert
has passed over. Denis Glover shouts
obscenities from a farm gate
they lower the coffin into clay.
General Booth is still singing
in Parihaka he drinks tea with
Te Whiti & Tohu between times
the children welcome the skylarks
I can't think of anything else to add
except what John said about
beauty. Which raises the question
"What is beauty?'" I'm very fond
of chocolates myself. Someday I'm
going to visit the Blue Mosque
small bones in the alleys
a dog waits at its iron gate
the moon hangs like a dimple
in the star pimpled sky
the street people laugh
at my figures of speech
I laugh
at the letterboxes covered with frost
who can't laugh back
somewhere the sun is shining
& the doctors in their surgeries
greet patients with a professional smile