Homage to New Zealand Folk Heroes

Rhythmically

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Patricia Bartlett and Piggy Muldoon
are up in the air in a hot-air balloon.
May the sun be Muldoon
and Bartlett the moon.
If they're not down already
they're going up soon.

Before they loosed the mooring-hook
some of us had sneaked a look
at what they took with them: all they took
was a piggy bank and a bawdy book.

The holy oak keeps light from the church.
The piggy doth eat the pear.
We all made a speech, to wish them away.
The balloon flew up in the air.

James K Baxter and Wild George
met in the Mangaweka Gorge.
Says Geo to Jim "What's that up there?
Don't say they're coming to get me, eh?"
Says Jim to Geo, "Taupo kauri,
can't understand you, I only speak Maori."

After laying a massive foundation stone
(in agony more than any bird's known)
Geordie died, with a gentle groan.
Piggy and Patty, travelling in space
passed his smiling helmeted face.

Why has the sun a slot in its nose?
Why is the moon like a pear?
The moon blew away to escape from the dirt.
The sun likes the view and the air.

Dennis List