Little Sister Buddha

It is Thursday morning
and there are five monks on the dais.
I cannot understand a word they are chanting
but I get the gist

And Mr Oh as supplicant and translator
He fights with two swords
as is the local custom
You were his best student
in a long time

‘I view her as my sister’ he says
‘I will make an altar for her in my house.’

And my nephews at my shoulder,
‘Shall we do a haka here uncle?’
It’s tempting but I’m not sure
what the Buddha would make of it

This is the first of your funerals
in absentia at Chalong in a temple
with you on the first leg home via Bangkok
where you will lie for one day alone
in a city of 10 million reincarnations
before flying Emirates

Five monks wish you appropriate karma.
They do not care much for the body
in these parts.
They have more concern for the travel of the soul

We should not linger
near the site of your collision
but there are offerings by a mango tree
and so,
we must

.

We haka by a lake
as fish and birds and turtles are
released and you are left
to dream of your first pro fight
yours in the third round
TKO with ten elbows
brutal
magnanimous
rire
rire
hau pai mārire

The good and gentle wind.
Some of the ancestors thought it made them
bulletproof.
Uncle Taka wants your photo
for the Whare at Pōhara

You are tupuna now

There’s a nice one of you in braids
and fighting strip
You look strong
resolute
calm
Or the one when you were ten
holding the giant rabbit you saved
from drowning in the flood of 82

Same look

And as I reminisce
a man trips over his own dog right
outside my window
I wonder what the monks would say about that

In Memoriam
Ariana Brown
1972 – 2016

Ben Brown, 2016
from This Imperfect Light, Dead Bird Books, 2026

Ben Brown (Ngāti Mahuta, Ngāti Korokī, Ngāti Pāoa) is an award-winning children’s author, poet and freelance writer. He has written over twenty children’s books as well as short stories for children and adults, general non-fiction, memoir, freelance articles and reviews. His poetry has been published in various anthologies around the world, and in May 2021 he was made the inaugural Aotearoa Reading Ambassador for Children – Te Awhi Rito. He is also a father of two, which he considers his best work to date.