Green Peace

I love to sit in forest shade
for the song of the birds and the bush
is a sound that gives me pleasure,
and the smell of the greenery lush
is a soothing scent and a healing balm,
and there I forget my woes.
I can while away a dreamy day
where the fern and the rata grows.

To contemplate the kauri's height,
to marvel at the width of its girth.
How different Aotea was
when it first pushed its head through the earth!
Now its topmost branches high in the sky
float dark against clouds of white,
while its feet in the dankness of the earth
spread wide to support its might.

Spagnum moss on the forest floor
weaves a carpet fit for a king.
Sweet peals of silver through the trees,
the chimes of the bellbird ring.
In the air to the steps of a silent waltz
Pert little fantail dances,
while the warbler grey sends some notes away
and his mate who is listening answers.

Oh, to sit still in a forest,
serene and yet pulsing with life,
soothed by peace that is total,
a world that is foreign to strife,
to dabble one's feet in a cool, clear stream
fed by a mountain fall.
There's many a way to pass a day
but that way's the best of all.