MAORI POETRY

Te Ao Hou, Autumn 1953, Page 41

MAORI POETRY LAMENT FOR A DEAD CHIEF (Translation) Oh, my loved ones, let's come together, For now the sting of pain is racking, Tugging at the heart strings of the select, The stars and the moon have fallen, What has brought you down so low, If not a storm that raged in heaven? Not the Lord, but a huia of recent flight, Seen flying over the hills Why have you not risen above the horizon? Your fame has gone forth to evoke love at home, And to assuage poignant sorrow, Go in your greatness to the nether world, There to be greeted by a band of women select The tide is well out to sea, And the taniwha has left its lair; Who will lead your hands now you are gone? Your mana and heaven itself will descend.