A symmetrical profile makes her

icon here
scoria cone silhouetted against every sunrise

violently born each day in a wash of blood.
Millennia ago lava caves cooled into tortured faces

and the basalt flowed like dark treacle.
Now heat bounces off black rock;

pohutukawa roots in the humus filled crevices
but on summit walk you'll find

ancient earthworks.
A landscape ruled by

screaming seabirds, looking over
Owairaka Maungakiekie Maungawhau

the wrathful volcanoes
we camp on

so far from extinct.