The Vantage

The honeymoon's last hours take the ferry to Devonport
To gain a vantage from which to look back on Auckland

As if by assuming perspective so soon, we could obviate
The first of marriage's hurdles. From the highest hill, however,

Gales hastened us away from more than a brief view.
Near Tourist Information, anchoring a small park at its centre,

The peninsula's tallest tree, whose pristine age earns it
Its own large-print brochure. We wondered, aloud,

Together, how to photograph it. A distant shot,
Taking it whole, would lose its solemnity.

A close-up would neglect how its wide dark leaves
Compound the breadth of its limbs, the lavish

Tangle of its roots, and the opalescent fuzz of its bark.
Anxious to perpetuate our trip's final moment,

We tried perspectives until the end of the roll, as though
...