The Waipakihi (rev)

Access Road 15 they named it this
anonymous road to the Waipakihi
where its brawling water becomes
Tongariro. A moment’s journey
across an horizon anchored in haze-
ridden Taupomoana – distanced
but jewelled in my thoughts.

Ruapehu, sentinel, guides my
track between summer-melt
waters deep-rent in shear sided
gullies to the beech-clad foothills
of Kaimanawa. Tongariro and young
Ngaruahoe mark my passage
with silent gaze.

The air is thick with solitude in this
un-peopled wilderness of tussock which
barely nods. Dipping down to the river
the forest swallows hillsides as the
water turns about itself, where
switchback roads cling to cliffs
unawed, inanimate.

Without leaving I have left the yoke
of commerce and its groan along the
Desert Road – it doesn't enter here
where Waipakihi turns about itself
becomes Tongariro.
© I.D. Carswell