Seven Mysteries

 

Now write down
the seven mysteries:
why you so young and beautiful should die;
why consciousness prevents
escape into the chestnut branches where
foliage goes soft
with God’s vermilion;
why what is said is seldom what was meant;
why men and women work, come home,
cook meals, argue and renew
their vows of silence or revenge;
why we were different;
why there are seven of everything;
why I go on
broken-winded like that horse we saw
on the ridge above Waipatiki
by a bent tree
watching the waves roll in.

from Going On (McIndoe, 1985), © Michael Jackson 1985, used by permission of the author. Recording from the Aotearoa New Zealand Poetry Sound Archive 2004.

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