ANCIENT MAORI POETRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9082, 16 June 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

ANCIENT MAORI POETRY.

[COMPILED FROM AN ARTICLE IN THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF 1559 ON "MAORI POPULAR POETRY," BY W. B. BAKER.] LAMENT OF A WIFE FOR HER HUSBAND. The following is a translation of the lament of Tepaea, who lived afc Mangere, for her husband, who died after a short illness : — See yonder is Kopu, the herald of morn, Like the form of my friend returning to me. I weep for his fledglings now clinging round me ; Bereft of their parent, thus silent and fallen. Aloof to the south rises Tanpirl's peak, And wildly the Burgos of Manukau chafe. One day bore thee hence from the homes of the living, Rro thy kindred could bind Motutara upon thee. Return, 0 return, and recline in thy dwelling; That home where my heart-strings were twined around theo. Oh, lost the sweet warbler that welcomed the morn, Departed and gone from its lover for ever. LAMENT FOR A LOVER. In the next poem a young girl had beer, betrothed by her friends to a young ,nan, but she loved another :— The tears Rush from mine eyes ; My eyelashes are wet with tears, Cease, O ye tears, within, Lest you be called mine. Alas i I am betrothed. It is for I'c Mauim That my love devours me. But I must weep in vain, Beloved one, for thee ; Like Tini rail's lament For his captive, Tutunui, Who was slain by Ngae, alas!

To explain the simile, it will be nece sary to relate the tradition referred to. Tinirau was a great chief in the early times of heroes and demi-gods, celebrated for the beauty of his person and his vanity. He had several pools tilled with clear, transparent water, and spent a considerable portion of each day in admiring his features as reflected therein. His temper, however, and the face of his mirrors were alike frequently ruiiled by certain envious ladies, who felt a malicious pleasure in destroying the transparency of the water by casting mud into the pools. He also kept a stud of whales. His favourite was called Tutunui— which means very mischievous. One day a friend of his, Kae—not Ngae, as the song calls him—who had been attending a feast given by Tinirau in honour of the birth or naming of one of his children, borrowed him for the purpose of returning home. After being cautioned to take great care of him, Kae mounted the marine charger, and was speedily borne homewards across the sea. Instead of dismounting in deep water, as he had promised to do, Kae ran the monster ashore, where it soon killed itself by floundering on the rocks. Kae's people cut it up and cooked it ; the sea breeze wafted the odour to Tinirau, who exclaimed, " The fragrance of Tutunui is exhaling!" This saying passed into a proverb, which is still frequently used by ttie hungry traveller, as he approaches a village or pa, and scents the savoury fumes of the umu, or Maori ovon. LAMENT OF A HUSBAND. The following tangi was composed by a young chief to express his attachment to the wife of his youth, from whom he had been separated by his friends. Domestic quarrels, which were of frequent occurrence amongst the Maoris, often resulted in the banishment of the weaker or offending party ; and the singer's dying appeal to the better feelings of his mother on behalf of his wife is particularly touching :— Soft the north wind sweepeth onward, Love upon its wings it lieareth ; Drop my tears like flaming waters ; Weep I will not, but mine eyes shall Rest upon the cloud approaching;. Whither, say, oh! whithercom'st thoui Com'st thou from my boyhood's love? She who wrapped round to warm me Garments of thy weaving, mother. Let not thy wrath 'gainst her be kindled : Tree was sho of mine own planting— Sharer of my midnight slumbers— Warmth and love to me imparting— Prostrate now on earth reclining, A FUTURE LIFE.

References to a future existence are, in Maori poetry, dim and uncertain. We quote a poem to show of what kind these references are :—

When the night hath closed round me, And 1 lay me down to slumber, Throwing out my arms to grasp thee, Xoufht is clasped but thy spirit. Yet I fancy that I hold then, In thy human form ami likeness. How my thoughts dwell ever on thec, And my heart with grief oppressed. Now for thee I'll weon no longer, But my prayers shall be addressed Unto Itakahua, Kiriki, Who preside o'er death and Hades, That thou mayest be restored to me.

A FRANK AVOWAL. The following tangi was addressed by a woman to her husband, who had left his liome on a war expedition. That there is some truth in tho saying of Byron, " Absence makes the heart grow fonder," the experience of Maori dames, as expressed in the last lines, seems to prove : — My sight is dimmed, my eyeballs strained, With razing toward the ranges— Tlio hills of Whakapaiunahara. Would that I were a blithesome bird, (iiftod with wiriß.s, that I might Hy And light beside my absent lover. My heart, extracted, ne'er returned, But hovers o'er thee, like a cloud Floating upon the summer breeze. Bereft of thee, my tears fall fast, For, though we sometimes quarrelled. Now that thou art gone, I love thee dearly.

THE OVERWHELMING TIDE. The fpllowing is a specimen of the poetic composition known as a puha. This is always short, spirited, and pronounced with a vehement tone and gesture, which is commonly used by the Maoris at public meetings to express a general feeling of unity and decision. As, for instance, when two contending parties have made peace, they join in singing the jmhci in token of amity. The following was sung with great effect by several hundred persons at the signing of the deed conveying to the Government the land at Wanganui, Sir Donald McLean being the Land Purchase Commissioner. Under the figure of the sea, reference is made to the irresistible tide of European population which was then setting in upon these shores : — Thy heart, McLean, is light and gladsome, Ours with painful thoughts opprest. Every ear is turned to listen To the roaring of the tide, Dashing into chine and cavern— 'Whelming all things in its fury.