In Memoriam

Erebus Voices
The Mountain

I am here beside my brother, Terror.
I am the place of human error.
I am beauty and cloud, and I am sorrow;
I am tears which you will weep tomorrow.
I am the sky and the exhausting gale.
I am the place of ice. I am the debris trail.
I am as far as you can see.
I am the place of memory.
And I am still a hand, a fingertip, a ring.
I am what there is no forgetting.
I am the one with truly broken heart.
I watched them fall, and freeze, and break apart.

Thirty years on, the disaster on Mount Erebus in the Antarctic still has as much power as it did on the day and night that the tragedy occurred, as do the words of this Bill Manhire poem. The event has the power to move and the power to polarise. It was a story that we may have been too close to at the time, to see all the parts clearly and this has only come with time and distance, apology and forgiveness.

Here are some links that will help on the background.

Mt Erebus in Rodney Libraries catalogue
New Zealand History website
Te Ara - Encyclopedia of New Zealand website
Christchurch City Libraries resource page
The TVNZ and the TV3 Erebus sites

Erebus Voices (continued)
The Dead

We fell.
Yet we were loved and we are lifted.
We froze.
Yet we were loved and we are warm.
We broke apart.
Yet we are here and we are whole.

Rest in Peace.