Deep within the jungle
Where no missionary dared to tread
Part of my great-grandmother's finger lost
To calm the cannibal king
No girl child could be the family's firstborn
So in the night they fled
Returning to her ancestral home
Bubu stood strong in frame
And climbed to the top of a waterfall
Three tiers high
Where her mother’s mother used to bathe
It was here she collected her weaving stones
An honour that was hers to own
Using stone, hand and foot
Bubu weaved her pandanus mats
For ceremony and for home
Mats that held her mana
In the time before her passing
Bubu would leave her body
With only a smile to comfort us
Her forehead cool and wet to touch
I knew she was there
At the source of that waterfall
Her vu ni yalo now sleeps in the stones
That weaved her life complete
Valerie Bichard (20th century) Fiji (lives in Australia)
Source: Writing the Pacific, An Anthology, Kavita Ivy Nandan, Pacific Writing Forum/Aclals, 2007
- Bubu - grandmother
- mana - supernatural power
- vi ni yalo - ancestral spirit
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