There are not many songs about my country. This piece describes walking the length of the land, north to south. There is such a trek. It’s 3000 in length and called Te Araroa. Not for the faint hearted. This is dedicated to that walk. https://www.teararoa.org.nz/
It started with a single step
Up where the highway ends
Solo file,
the ninety mile
In northern distant sands
Then Aotearoa’s wild heart
Drew me further down the track
Walking on through the night
And never looking back.
I was hiking my New Zealand
just to test the span,
of the last place on the planet
to feel the feet of man
New Zealand, e ha!
Watch the children play and the rivers run.
New Zealand, e ha!
Two islands become one.
When the soft New Zealand rain
Is like the touch of a hand
And the Southern Cross
Gives lightness
to the darkness of the land
We were born with very little
And it’s ok to stay poor
But boots de-soled
in the Tongariro cold
Made me wish for something more
I brought coffee in Karori
and thought some thoughts of you
Then tried to figure out how to cross the ribbon strait of blue.
New Zealand, e ha!
Watch the children play and the rivers run.
New Zealand, e ha!
Two islands linked as one.
When the soft New Zealand rain
Is like the touch of a hand
And the Southern Cross gives lightness to the darkness of the land
The steel hull of the trawler
Cut cold seas from the south
We crashed into
but made it through
the breakers at Greymouth.
Then I walked across the alpine fault
Ralph Hotere coloured land
and the plains stretched out forever
In a distant golden band
New Zealand, e ha!
Watch the children play and the rivers run.
New Zealand, e ha!
Two islands linked as one.
When the warmth of the sun
On bare feet in the sand
And the Pohutakawa remind me
how I feel about this land
I stood alone upon the heights
of a mountain station run
Squinting at the setting of
the rusty southern sun
Then I swiftly ran
like a new freed man
wanting to explode
And the braided river chased me
down the Canterbury road.
New Zealand, e ha!
Watch the children play and the rivers run.
New Zealand, e ha!
Two islands linked as one.
And the warm summer wind
Makes the tall grasses stand
Dance me across those dancing fields
And guide me through this land
(Break)
Surf us, say the silver waves
Southern slippery stony shore
Beaded water,
Kupe’s daughter
The end left me wanting more
A single star at sundown
In the darkness there were seven
Matariki illuminating
my perfect slice of heaven.
New Zealand, e ha!
Watch the children play and the rivers run.
New Zealand, e ha!
Two islands linked as one.
When the soft New Zealand rain
Is like the touch of a hand
And the Southern Cross
Gives lightness to the darkness of the land
–
Copywright: Rod de Lisle
I had a crack at painting a snippet of this song. – “The Golden Band”- acrylic on canvas.
fifty thousand words 