growing up
hearing these tales
wearing shell necklaces
beaded headbands
tracing patterns on
tapa and hiapo

coral and palm trees
cyclones and limestone caves
enunciating our maori vowels correctly
because that’s how we were raised

a kinship with these islands
never visited
often heard of
my existence owed to them

and one day i will see them
and kia orana/fakaalofa atu
i will greet them like old friends

[My parents both worked as volunteers in the Pacific in their younger years – Mum spend time in the Cook Islands, then she and Dad both worked in Niue, which is where they met. I have always grown up with a fascination – and knowledge – of both places, and reeeeeally need to get around to visiting either/both!]