Horiwood's Blog

In Rememberance of Louis Henry Davis Snr.

 

Haere ra Pa Davis of Whakapara

You who gave us Lou Davis Jnr

Tall like you, the younger kauri of Nga Puhi

Who now stands in your place for Te Tai Tokerau.

I thank you Pa, for the heart you gave your son,

For the whakapapa you passed on, handed down

handed down, handed down from rangatira to moko

 

Your blood mingles with my kin’s blood and my family

thank you for the gift of life you have given us all.

You live on.

 

I thank you Pa, for being a generous man who loved.

Though life threw sand storms your way to blind you

yet you were not blind at the end. What a story, you are!

 

I bet you never thought, that when you passed away

a poem would be written about you in Hollywood.

I bet you never thought that your name would sit

in a little online whare with names like Sinatra,

Brad Pitt, President Barack Obama or Angelina Jolie

for the entire world to see.

 

I never thought that would ever happen either Pa

but it is, because of the man you were, that I see

reflected in your son. You left behind a great man.

 

This stirs me to write these words tonight on your behalf,

remembering a rangatira who left a chiefly son, amazing children

and the wonder of your grandchildren to us all.

 

Life is no small miracle. On little hinges swing the doors

of the future, and you gifted us many with your one life.

Tonight in Hollywood, Pa Davis, I smile because your life

inspires me to see the multitude of stars you left behind

on this earth.

 

Your stars blaze in my heart, in my mind, in my memory

like a walk of fame, that lives in the kauri-covered whenua

of the brave. Haere ra Pa. You’re truly going home to the

non stop party of them all. Who would have thought eh?! 

 

Thank you.