Kawiti's Chant

Te Takuake a Kawiti Kahore te mamae e waahi ake nei E whakapatuana te tau o Takuate e Kite iwi raia kua hurihia atu nei Ki raro ite maru ote Kuini ee Hei hapai mai ite patu a ware ee Ki runga ki taku kiri ngarahu e Te ngu o taku ihue whakamaua mai ra Etini ete hoa kia waiho ko ahau Hei matangohi mo roto ite pakanga Imahara hoki au ee hei riri kotahi ee Hei riri pupu te riri a Ngapuhi, te riri a Rahiri ee Te riri a kaharau. Kai tohia iho ana kite tohi ote riri ee Kite tohi nei o Karakawhati ee Kirunga ki te kauae ote riri ee Hei huna ite tangata ee kite po nui o Rehua eei Tenei ka whakaohirangi te tapu ite tinana Te tapu ite whenua ee Etitiro ana au e nga hau e wha ee Onunga ote rangi ee Tenei ka tukumai ko Ngaitai kote mere Whakakopa ee Ite hauauru he tai tama taane e Kote maroharanui, kote ripoharanui i waho o Mapuna, E tangi ana ia he mumutai he waa whenua ei Kia too te marino ki roto o Hokianga I tupu mai i Panguru i Papata eei Nga puke iringa korero ote hauauru ee Katere-te-Taitapu te kauanga ote rangi He au maunutanga-toroa, he hurihanga-waka-taua Kite riri tauaki, kite riri horahora ee Kite riri whanannga ki roto o Ngapuhi Kaati kawea mai te riri ate manu waitai Kiroto o Ngapuhiko wahaorau eei E kore au e mutu te tu kiroto ate pakanga Kia kai rano au ite rereua ote po, Katahi ano au kamutu te tu kite pakanga Ka hinga hoki ra te-wao-nui-o-tane ki raro naai. The sorrow of love wells up within me, strikes at my heart strings for the people who have turned away to find their shelter under the Queen and have raised weapons of slaves to set upon the tattoo of my skin, the spirals sculptured on my nose. Oh my many friends, why forsake me to become first-slain in this battle? I thought this a war for all, war of men bound together, a Ngapuhi war, war of old man Rahiri, war of Kaharau, to be baptised to the rites of battle, the ceremonial of Karakawhati, before the shrine of war, for the hiding of men in the great night of Rehua. I perceive now holiness in the body, holiness in the land, as I look up to the four winds of heaven, Ngaitai arrives with the hidden mere, from the western seas—the male child— from the great ocean currents, mighty surges beyond Mapuna, resounding the roar of the ever moving tide crashing upon the land. Let the great calm spread through Hokianga springing from Panguru and Papata, mountains, heavy with tales, in the west. The sacred tide flows, crossing the sky, the current bearing the albatross, turning the warriors' boats to the war up-flung, the war out-spread, the war of kinsmen of Ngapuhi. So let the war, brought here from the sea enter Ngapuhi of a hundred folds. I shall never cease to fight my kinsmen until I taste the driving sleet of death. Only then shall I cease to fight my kinsmen for the great tree of Tane will then lie low. Explanatory Notes: Rahiri Kaharua, Karakawhati: ancestors of Ngapuhi tribes. Panguru, Papata: mountain ranges in Hokianga.