TO MAKETU.

New Zealand Herald and Auckland Gazette, Volume I, Issue 61, 19 March 1842, Page 4

TO MAKETU.

{Lines written previous to his Execution.) Thy doom is seal'd, indeed ! thy fate,alas! ' Has brought thee where the blood stain'd felons pass. ' What fury black'd thy heart! sapp'd it in youth, Matur'd a noble face devoid of truth; Cancell'd the claim that manly graces give, Stamp'd thee a fiend, and one unfit to live. Thou hast been cradled in the lap of one, Who knew no feeling, who call'd thee no son. Thy nurse has been some hag,* who Jived on blood, - Shriek'd in her dreams, and gloated on her food. I know them well : they trail where slaughter flies, Tear out their victim's hearts—feast on their eyes; Drag from the mother's breast her infant child, Strangle the cherub while it sweetly smil'd. Such was thy late; f \>r parent's tongue, I swear, Ne'er could have blighted one who look'd so fair. The grace of Belial rests upon thy brow, And like him, chieftain, hast thou fallen low. Shake off thy Maori creed, for priests will tell There is a heaven for chiefs, but not a hell; Heed not the tale, for the Great One has said. Thy soul shall rise to judgment from the dead. The deed is done—thy pardon rests with God, To dwell yet in his heaven, or wither at his rod. * In the Native wars these characteristics were not at all ■uncommon. I have seen the women myself, and heard their barbarities described. Crayon.