MAORI POETRY.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 13017, 3 July 1906, Page 3

MAORI POETRY.

AN OLD-TIM& LOVE SONG

"W. 8.," of Te Kuiti, a tegular contributor to the Auckland "Herald" on Maori subjects, in an article on Maori poetry, has £he following :-r One of theiinost.afiecting—to—-me'liter-ary oddments, in my possession is the : following Maori song and its history: The .Maori' version, as I took it down from the ■lips' /of the narrator, together with other notes and MSS., was accidentally burnt. This might have happened to the translation also, but that fortunately I had lent it to a friend, who lately returned it to me. I made three translations of it, and chose the one which after a careful comparison seemed to me that which contained the Maori metre and words. The historian was a blind native friend, for whom I had conceived a great /personal esteem. "No," he said, staring as do the blind straight before him. "No, I cannot repine; my sightless eyes have closed to me the outer world,, but the inner see all the clearer. Besides, I have mainy coinr panioßts to comfort me when the family is away in the fields. Then memory calls ancient traditions, wars and warriors, their ambitions, and the futile ending of all things. Old forgotten songs—l sing them to myself,, and all their passionate intentions flow through my heart. , 1 " Did I ever sing you the song of ' Vain N Regrets-'? No?. It is a dirge of de- ' spair, composed by an ancestor of renown, who went on a war expedition to avenge an insult which lay heavy on the bowels of his dignity. All they went but one, and that was his. bosom friend, who remained because of an indisposition. Before he departed he said to his sister: 'Oh, sifter, be a friend to Te Hia, my betrothed. Keep an eye to her feet, that they slip not. A wayward heart she hath, yet it is amenable.' But, lo! before he had gone many days she transferred her. affections to Ms. bosiom. friend. This her betrothed no sooner heard than in broken-hearted grief he composed .this »ng." And in a strong, resonant voice he intoned the yong of "Vain Regrets":— ' Oh.! what is what revenge? What the satisfaction in death-blows? Stone heavy feet went forth on that errand ! But, listen, Te Hia: a heavier heart Weighted with sadness, went on that quest. Five nights I slept, and put forth my hand,' , And you were beside me. J The sixth night I put forth my hand, And, lo! it graeped space. Then I awoke, And, greatly distressed, I argued in this wise: Is this a token? An omen of' evil? No; it, is merely -Ja "dream b Yet dreams hold" strange revelations! So when on tie seventh—and after— < You came not, then I knew That my omens had spoken the truth! Oh! Te Hia, had it been but a stranger, Whom I could slay and open the way!, But this might not 'be: how -could I slay The chum and friend of my youth? Our tohunga? Our ancestral totems? Wherewith to punish the traitor? Just so: many roads may lead to one - place! But, oh! JTe Hia, what of your love? Has it not ebbed, as the tides ebb x ijew of-thetinoon?- -Or, as clouds, Which soar away into space, And return not,",-never, the same? , ' What can I do-to regain it? Nothing? Then this will I do: I will pluck it out of my heart! Forget that two plantlets commingled Their eap, hoping- one day to grow into - o Side by side'to shed seeds: To replace trees which have fallen of age! Oh! vain regrets! Yes, this will I do! However it pains, pluck it out of my heart!

Butj Te Hia, I dare not attempt ft! Where tie roots have..been nourished : They.strike deepest and widest I have-thought of the unknown to take me. But would.that end the pain? No! \ ... Even there it would follow! No! I cannot pluck it out of my heart! It is part of .'myself! Oh!.«poe-unto me! When the .song was ended he paused. Then he repeated: "I cannot pluck it out of my heartV it. is part of myself.' As if that were> possible! Neither iman nor woman of their Qjra ■■■willmay/do, it. Time only can, and that slowly. The bark is bruised from the tree, at oncevexudes a moisture of sap; this hardens into, a pellicle and wound, -under. which a new ioark; forms and thus the wound is healed—-but the scar remains!, Is that not so, brother? /■ [ ;'.•-, "But'my ancestor divined correctly: she was w.iywa^,\•"buf^ ; able; for when he retained, a hero, and' she heard tie song as he sung it at sunset outside ,the pa, ip. the slope which" faces the west, his voice and its cadence .of sorrow enlarged her heart and its old-tune affectionsf So she erept softly to his side in the dusk, and playfully pinching his ear whispered into it: 'Ko au tenej, ko Te Hia'— * It is I,' Te Hia, your betrothed. I have come back; Is the matter forgiven;?' And thus rtiiiose two became my ancestors." ;. .-'