The Titipounamu Or 'rifleman' Wren Poem by Keith Shorrocks Johnson

Seeking escape from enslaved beguilement
The young warrior turned against the crone
Who had kept him in enchanted confinement
Persuading him her love fused them to one.

But he took heart and courage, when she left
The cave to hunt the forest floors and shades,
And killed the trophy captures that she kept
To celebrate her bloody sharp-toothed raids.

Fearing her wroth and reprisal, he fled
Thinking none survived to tell the tale -
But one small agate-jewelled wren hid
And brought the news to her of his betrayal.

So she, tracking her mocking, faithless lover
Found him hidden within a monstrous stone
That shone bright with jade from core to cover -
Seizing there a precious greenstone boon.