Un Temps Plus Tot. (Translation) . Poem by Michael Walker

The poem celebrates Northland, in New Zealand, which tends to be a different world, very scenic, and at Cape Reinga the Pacific Ocean flows into the Tasman Sea-an impressive sight indeed. Maori believe that this cape is where departed spirits-people who have recently died- leave from on the journey back to Hawaiki, their ancestral home somewhere in the Pacific. The pohutukawa tree has red flowers before and after Christmas; it mainly grows on shore-lines.
I made just a few trips to North Auckland and I was similarly impressed. I drove beside the Ninety Mile Beach and on to Cape Reinga, North Cape and Cape Maria van Diemen. I had a really good tour of the Marsden Point Oil Refinery as well.
'Earlier Time' stands out in its anthology: it makes you think that 'I've Been This Way Before', Neil Diamond's song.