LAMENT FOR MAKETU.
[From Maori Mementoes, presented to Sir George Grey by the Native people.]
By his Father, Ruhe. (Maketu was the first Aboriginal Native who suffered the extreme penalty of the law in Auckland.) O my son! I may ne'er forget thee. Thou art gone Far hence, for the deep springs of fatherly Affection are bubbling now, and the mind Seems all bewildered o'ertaken by a storm. I fed thee with the fish, which line the rocks [enemy. Along the ocean shore, and taught thee how to meet the Omy son! I used to press thee to my breast, Yes, Maketu, that child whom priests Baptized in the fast flowing stream. Stay my son! It was a day of life When the people came in companies, When the birds and other dainties were set Before them, How now ? Ah do not look upon my bird* with scorn. Lo it is newly fledged, and comes from That noble one Wharawhara, the great ;f And when its death is known, the grandsons Of famed Taingahue J will come from Distant places. Here are thy lines, O'er those I weep, and then I place Thy hooks within a basket as a memorial Of my lost one. My son ! Thy name was scarcely known Thou wert but a stripling, and yet Thy hands have touched anothers treasures. Thy sires, Pehi, and Te Ngatata were great And wise, then how hast thou become Acquainted with Whiro, the god of plunder ?
Zeakndem 7 bfrd " _An affectionate t«m for a child or beloved friend, and is of frequent occurrence in the poetry of the New t " 3T? aT^' whara the g reat "—An ancient ancestor of the New Zealanders. J Xamgahue " —An ancestor of reputed greatness.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WAKAM18741117.2.16
Bibliographic details
Waka Maori, Volume 10, Issue 23, 17 November 1874, Page 292
Word Count
290LAMENT FOR MAKETU. Waka Maori, Volume 10, Issue 23, 17 November 1874, Page 292
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