Matariki and the love-torn sailor
Sun rose regal and high in the sphere sky
strong and eager winds
spurred to twirl the heavens.
Aukai’s crew loaded stone and
tools onto his double-hulled wood canoe
this day bodes well for several at sea,
he thought but his body’s memory sunk
into the soft wet warmth of Alaula,
his dawn light, roots and earthly delight
eager sails filled with powerful gusts
Aukai palmed the rock around his neck
remembered what Alaula had said
I’ll love you until all the dawns are spent
I’ll love you in the dark of the ocean
I’d fly with the fishes for you
Aukai rubbed Alaula’s rock
breathed sun and salt
left the solid shore
his hope in nature’s breath
tiger limbs jumped deck
hair caught wild wind and briny grains
on the reckless sea we find our worth
on the tempest air our minds have mirth
barrel-lungs sang until a yellow peach sun
dropped into the ocean
feather clouds gilded gold and red chased it in
ebbing sunrays reached sailors’ skin
etched onyx with lizards and alluring women
the ocean turned bruise black in the shadowed sky
blue gods birthed the creviced moon
this clear sky bodes well for navigating night water,
thought Aukai, stroking Alaula’s rock
in his mind she swam alongside
her breast and belly silver-tinged with lunar rays
the monstrous ocean spiked and fell
moon-touch plated a pale corridor along its black sheet
innocently asking Aukai to tread infinity
the sailors watched the Matariki
dancing around the moon’s white sphere
a troop of angel-women; Aukai and crew close hauled
the wooden whale
let the distant girls guide their path
Matariki pranced
the crew of young firm seamen oozed primal possibilities
(many dips and turns of sky had passed
since they’d been admired this far on the ocean)
they watched, clustered their lustrous heads.
Wai-Ta flashed bigger than the other sisters
like her vanity, drunk on adoration,
she loved a strong sailor’s gaze
Aukai hauled the huge canoe with bear arms
she pleasured herself with thoughts
of his boat-hull chest her luminescent fingers
tracing patterns there
she saw him touch Alaula’s rock
as if a heavenly object, not a cheap token
from a temporal girl, rotting since birth
her reverie crashed
he sang, Alaula, Alaula, Alaula my love
I refuse to be used by male mortals
said Wai-Ta, Aukai will feel the fire of stars
the sisters had to succumb to the girl’s demands
what was a trick or two on a silly sailor
so many would come in many more years
they hatched a plan a devilish dance to steer
the canoe on a different course
they leapt around the gorged moon
tittered, whispered and watched confusion
grasp the canoe
Aukai saw the strange change in his mind’s star map
but, trusting his ancestors, steered on
the ocean became angry and the boat
faced walls of water
could I have made a mistake
the canoe rode wave after wave a flimsy toy
sailors tumbled praying night would end.
men smashed against masts Matariki cavorted
their energy an evil reverie
oblivious to death on board
noon next day the Matariki slept
ocean napped and wind ran
from the starry spell, sailors’ dread roused:
three men lay limp on deck
eyes wide
limbs smashed
their hair shone as if they slept
Aukai cried and cried, salty tears
more countless drops of bitter water
comrades carried comrades to await their kapu coffin
they scarred their skin with burning twigs in memoriam
Aukai gathered his crew, fixed the sails
he could see from where the sun was born
how far they’d come. He grasped Alaula’s rock
the water was still as a picture
no white surf broke the painted surface
the dreaded doldrums
true horror began
endless days and nights
without a breath or swell
bright blue skies
blackest-hearted silver eyes
sailors’ sinews became thin as ropes
doldrums drew them round and
round the endless ocean membrane
tools and rocks heavy, rations receded
men weak as runts
skeletons on a ghostly craft
sailors went to the bleakest place
hunger of a desperate kind
their bodies yearned to live another day condemned
such is destitution in the living
they pulled their dead men from the hull
axed their limbs
cooked and chomped their thighs
in the silvery light
under the little eyes, the Matariki
Alaula’s rock was heavy around Aukai’s neck
Sailors’ skin slid inside his gut
fat of friends sat on his lip and stuck,
a layer of ghastly goo. The men pushed on
bodies sated
hearts wisps of shadow
they could not speak
they could not weep
rowing their only act
across deserts of boundless floods.
Aukai’s heart a hull, his voice a dead echo
night after night after night
he dreamt of cutting out his tongue
bitter to find himself awake
his tongue in tact
he died a thousand desolate lives each night
after days of doldrums and death
angels in seagull garb
caw cawed over their canoe
driftwood and seaweed made a path to land
even the thought of Alaula’s song
couldn’t right all Aukai’s wrongs
he ripped her rock from his neck
and threw it into the ocean’s wrecks.
