Jonathan Ta, A Faintail’s Elegy (Phillip Sargeant Poetry Prize Winner

A Fantails Elegy Phillip Sargeant Poetry Prizewinner Jonathan Ta

Where Pacific waves and Tasman’s meet,

Where to Cook sailed with his first fleet, A speck of green, a sea of blue, There stands a shelter, true as true.

An archipelago so green Its rolling hills of greenstone gleam, Through which pīwakawaka1 fly And tōtara2 stretch to the sky.

And here, where Māui 3slowed the sun, And roped it back to pace its run, These argent shores and sable sand Bear witness to this story grand:

Where these remote Bermudas lie, A haven, not from churches’ spy, But from hostilities still raw, From ‘caliphates’ suffused with war.

At Māngere4, with all their lives In suitcases, they safe arrive, Young Ismael stares with wide eyes Not at the trees, but at the blocks That row on row at him all mock. No fantails here, just sudden shock. Damascus is a far way out. And all he sees Are taniwha5 of uncertainty.

1 pīwakawaka: Māori name for the New Zealand Fantail. In Māori mythology, the fantail is a messenger of death. 2 tōtara: A native tree, known for its thin, spiny leaves. 3 Māui: A demi-god in Māori mythology. Among his many great feats, Māui and his brothers slowed the sun by restraining it with magic ropes, allowing for a longer day. 4 Māngere: The Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre in Auckland. 5 taniwha: A great sea monster in Māori mythology. 64

Six weeks go by, and Ismael Is warming up to life’s new start. The centre cannot fetter his mind. He dreams of all he’s heard and seen, Of playing rugby on fields of green, Of Sunday roasts, both fat and lean. The fantails fan and sing.

His father, Ibrahim, selects Pensive Christchurch as the best. They glide across that mighty plain Where Taranaki6 claimed his shame. As they descend, those Southern Alps Guide their landing with snow-topped caps.

The Red Cross help them settle in, And neighbours greet them with great grins. They gift boxes on boxes of food and toys, Ismael brims with joy, But fantails see this Troy.

For when Ibrahim takes the family to pray, One innocent and calm Friday, To praise Allah for His kind ways, To praise Allah for New Zealand’s peace, That peace was interrupted.

We do not know why hatred struck this clan, But fantails cackled,

Their mourning rang.

6 Taranaki: A mountain on the West Coast of New Zealand. According to Māori legend, Taranaki fought a great battle with Tongariro for the hand of Pihanga. He lost, and fled, weeping, across the island.