I tell my children you are here
because
in 1913 a Maori chief
gave the captain of HMS New Zealand
a piupiu, a skirt made from flax.
A ceremonial gift
with the prophecy that if worn
or kept close by in conflict
it would protect the ship
and crew – and his words were
remembered at the battles
of Dogger Bank, Heligoland Bight
and Jutland. It was the luckiest
ship they said. No loss of life
and because of this
a young bandsman, a flautist
called Francis survived
who had a son who had
a daughter who now stands
before the exhibition case
looking at the skirt displayed,
thinking of the tribal hands
that wove the leaves
which saved the sailors,
and how they’d grown the crop
from the seed of the flax.
Originally published in Brittle Star, 2018.