Kihikihi
Kihikihi
a grave
by the highway
where two foes
should be buried
and down the road
to Orakau
where the hill is cut
in half
choose your side
2 July 2015
Te Awamutu
I would rather risk being Delphic than laden the poem with a history lesson. I want it to remain like an epitaph. But Sir George Grey and Rewi Maniapoto agreed to be buried together in 1884, and only Rewi lies at Kihikihi. Down the road is his “last stand” which took place at the siege of the pa at Orakau in 1864. The road bisects it. The visitors teeters on banks between the road and farm fences from which the ground falls away on all sides.