Te rain

people ask you

 - they always will

how come you

live here

you say:

I am at home

 - and you mean it

you say:

what, besides the fact

where I am from

is a tiny island

(actually several)

in the middle of the ocean

they think

about this

and smile

they say:

don’t you miss it?

it’s your turn

to smile

nope

nice place to visit

wouldn’t want

to live there

you believe

and tell people it’s so

you got it all

outa ya system

missing it

by going back

to work there

for a year or two

you been back here

two years

haven’t missed it

don’t think

you ever will, again

and then

it hits you

one hot summer night

just before it rains

you find your mind

driving down

the Bombay hills motorway

in the dark

past the flower store

on your right

the manuka trees, swamp

turn off to Thames

on your left

or coming the other way

through Ngaruawahia

late at night

past the fish’n’chip shop

the pub

railway line
Turangawaewae marae

army camp

urupa on the hill

the dead looking over

the smooth, wide

Waikato river

Or it's a sunny day

and you’re hitch hiking

somewhere out back

near Te Aroha

on a country road

going past

the milk treatment plant

whatever you remember

you are always

in motion

drifting

always in

the inbetween places

moving on

that’s partly why, too

people ask you:

how long you’ve been here

you say:

ten years

except really

with all the coming

and going

if you add it all up

you spent three

of those ten years

there

used to be

when you could afford it

come november

and the grey west coast rain forest

by december

you were desperate

from the gloom

in the dead of winter

you’d book your ticket

back 

to the sunny south pacific

by the end

of january

you’d be there

not missing it

at all

people ask you:

why you’re here, now

and you wonder

about the answer

because you feel safe here

how you felt at home

the first time you visited

a journey of love

the doors of art

which opened to you

or the spirit bears

who called

you painted

before you ever

came here

the bears who

came to you

right after

you got here

or the years

your spirit spent

hovering over this coast

yearning

because

you

just

knew

the

smell

of

rain.

Ngaruawahia photo by rytc on flkr (creative commons)