By Dugal Thomson, 03 October 2023
E pahure ana tēnei tau, ā, kei hea au? Kei te tāone au tuhi ai i tēnei pito kōrero. I pīrangi au kia hīkoi ake ki ngā pae maunga ātaahua Tararua, engari kua mau ahau i tōku mahi wānanga. Ka mutu, he maha ngā hui me ngā pō tacos kāore i taea e au. He pouri, nē? Kāore e taea e au te haere ki ngā rohe katoa, he nui rawa te ao. Engari ka aroha kē hoki kua pau pea ngā wā iti hei whakatā ki te ngāhere. Koinei tētahi tuhinga ki te whakamārama i ēnei whakaaro:
Wake, caffeinate, hurry to school
Write a new essay, forever a fool
Dash to work while the timetable screams
You’re behind you’re behind, you should change stream.
All the while flowing, there is that other stream
It’s running and bubbling and caressing the mind
Wholesome and peaceful, gentle and kind
I’m flung back in the throng, which course should I take?
There simply are so many things at stake
A constant barrage, I’m thrown off course
A course frothing and raging, a quest for the source
Of the voice which demands I find that recourse
It’s running and bubbling and caressing the mind
Wholesome and peaceful, gentle and kind
The birds are the bards of the bush they say,
All the while singing in places far away.
Their voices a counsel better than I’ll ever be,
Let’s head for the hills. Let me be free.