HE WAIATA NA PUHIWAHINE MO HAUAURU

Te Ao Hou, September 1959, Page 13

HE WAIATA NA PUHIWAHINE MO HAUAURU E noho ana hoki ia nei I roto koia o taku whare; Moe matatu ko au anake. Katahi nei hanga kino na te Atua! E rua aku tau e huuna ai koe, Naaku ano koe i whakarere. Te mau atu ai ki te toka; Te ueue nuku, te ueue rangi, Whatawhata i runga, whatawhata i raro, Hau kokouri, hau kokotea. Nga tai o te kura e whati mai nei Mauria atu ra ki te peka o te ariki, I huuna ai te kai i a taua. Kia hoko kumara Hei kawe atu ra i ahau. Nga whakakoronga kei Rangitoto; Kei te tupuranga mai o Hawaiki Mo aku mahara e takoto nei, E, i! In solitude I now abide Within this house of mine; Restless sleep is with me alone, Alas, what an affliction God has dealt! For two years you were lost to me, And it was I, alas, who left you. Would that I had clung to the rock; Then nought on earth, nor in the heavens, Would have moved above, or here below, With the howling gales or stormy winds. 10 Now I but faintly see the waving plumes Beckoning to me from the noble one, He for whom I now deny all food. ‘Tis vain to proffer a kumara feast As a lure to take me away. This yearning is fixed on Rangitoto; Firmly planted there as if in Hawaiki Are my thoughts that abide with me, Alas!

HE WAIATA AROHA MO HAUAURU Muri ahiahi takoto ki te moenga, Maringi taharua he wai kei aku kamo. Mai ano o Tukeka kia tangihia iho, He mea ka wehewehe o taua nei tinana. Tera Te Tuhinga ka moiri ki runga, Ara haerenga atu mo te kare-a-roto; Tangi kau atu ki taau, e Pare, Mehe he takakau koe kihai i whakaroaia iho.— O riri, e Ketu—Ki toou pai, e Hauauru. E kore to haate e ruihi i ahau He maunga aroha mooku ki a koe, i, i. With the fall of eventide I lay me down to rest; Two cascading streams fall from mine eyes. Ever since Tukeka died I am for ever weeping, Because of this our parting. Yonder is Te Tuhinga rising on high, It marks the pathway for the love within. Ah me, I am weeping for your kin, O Pare. Tho' angry you be, O Ketu—because of your charm, O Hauauru. And I shall not lose your haate, J For ever with it abides my love for you, ah me. 5. Te Tuhinga. A high hill near Hauauru's home at Araikotore. 7. Pare. In full, Paretekorae; Hauauru's aunt. 9. Ketu. Puhiwahine's brother. 10. Haate. Shirt, maorified. A present from Hauauru. During her stay at Paripari, Tanirau was solicitous towards Puhiwahine. A romance might have developed if her brothers had not decided it was time for the party to move on. Tanirau was a fine figure of a man, but like his cousin Hauauru he, too, was a married man. The brothers had observed that Puhiwahine, as a reaction to her recent heartache, was working herself into a defiant mood for some madcap escapade. At the leavetaking with Tanirau and his people Puhiwahine sang her latest song—composed as a relief and an antidote to the mental disruption of the time. The theme of the song was based on her recent trip to the south, and in it she made mention of many notable people; some of whom were related to her and were well-known chiefs of that time. She sang her song to a lilting refrain and to the accompaniment of the pukana, or posture dance. None excelled Puhiwahine in the pukana, and she sang her song with flashing eyes, quivering hands, the haughty stare, and the fine turn of the head to emphasise the words. A suitable title for the song might be A ‘Trip to the South’.