Sun o (2)
by Hone Tuwhare
Sun o (2) - Hone Tuwhare
Sun o (2)
Gissa smile Sun, giss yr best
good mawnin’ one, fresh ‘n cool like
yore still comin’ — still
half in an’ half outa the lan’scape?
An’ wen yore clear of that eastern rim
of hills an’ tha whole length of tha
valley begins to flood wit yr light, well
that’s wen I could just reach out ‘n stroke
tha pitted pock-marked pores of yr shiny
skin an’ peel ya — just like a orange, right
down to yr white under-skin, but I wouldn’t
bite ya — well, not until the lunch-bell goes
at noon wen I can feel ya hot an’ outa reach
an’ balanced right there—above my head.
C’mon, gissa smile Sun.
'Sun O (2)', from Small Holes in the Silence: Collected Works (Godwit, Random House, 2011), Hone Tuwhare 2011, used by permission of Rob Tuwhare on behalf of the Estate of Hone Tuwhare. Recording from the Aotearoa New Zealand Poetry Sound Archives 2004.