Waikumete/ Mt. Erebus. Poem by Michael Walker

(' I am not up there beyond the sky, /but here') . 'They Speak of God'. Don Blanding. (1894-1957) .

How vastly separated in space, yet linked by fate,
these two places are, I reflect at Waikumete
gazing at the three gray granite pillars
which have forty-three names inscribed,
and Don Blanding's 'They speak of God'.
'Copy our names down', the dead seem to say,
'before you return to the streets we knew too'.

Two hundred-and-fifty-seven people left on Flight TE 901
from Auckland airport at 8: 17 am.on 28 November 1979;
for sightseeing over Antarctica. Not one of them returned.
Their DC 10 airliner crashed inexplicably at 1500 feet
into the lower slopes of Mt. Erebus, an active volcano.

'Erebus', the Son of Chaos in Greek mythology. The Underworld.
I picture myself on the dry ice contours of Ross Island
where the skuas squawk and the sun never sets,
and I hear the American Preacher say in decisive tones:
'He is present with us and what may seem like foolishness
'to us is God's wisdom: We may not understand with our minds,
'but we ask for faith that we may accept what has been done.'

-15 November,2015.