Wars and Peace
1. Mural by Withers at Purrumbete
Proud of their new heritage,
the Manifolds had in from
Melbourne its best muralist
who at their behest
painted on the hall wall
how the Blacks watched
while they landed sheep,
discovered grazing land
and good water,
made it their own,
yet those Blacks came back -
on the attack
until repulsed -
stealing water and sheep.
Peace was restored.
2. Onawe
Driving over exhilarating hills
where a few sheep steeply grazed,
I pointed below to
the small green peninsula
settled on the waters
of Akaroa Harbour.
So so peaceful, she sighed.
Yes - now, I replied,
but I remember being told
of Maori warfare -
eighteen thirties, was it?
when muskets made for
slaughtering brisker
than with taiaha and patu -
Onawe's defenders killed
or enslaved by bold
canoe-borne invaders -
led by Te Rauparaha -
the Maori Napoleon.
What was once fortified -
is now green turf. Peace -
yes, now (she sighed).
3. 'The Last of the Unjust' [Terezin, Nisko]
The camera for this slow
movie lingered on verdure,
venerable trees,
unspoiled old villages,
tilled earth and vegetables,
weathered stone walls,
while the commentary dwelled
on the long death march under
the trees, guards trigger-happy;
starvation, typhus,
where the scaffold was,
where the firing squad -
near the potato patch.
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