Adaptations of an ancient poem
This
waiata is probably an ancient one, modified from an even older
one, and new meanings were given to
its words in the 1800s.
A Google search locates it in many of the 19th century New
Zealand documents now on-line.
Poukawa
Rawhi-rawhi was a Waikato chief from Matamata who signed the
Treaty of Waitangi, so because of the "whare o Rawhirawhi" and
the "ki Tauwhare" lines, the song was attributed to a woman
who was passionately in love with him. But the song appears to
be much older than that. It was sung all over the country and
the "ki Hukanui e Moka" line refers to a mysterious, forgotten
event.
1856
- Edward Shortland. Traditions and Superstitions of the
New Zealanders, Chapter
IX
Shortland
omits Grey's suggestion of being directed to Poukawa. He
simply lists it as a waiata. "Waiata," he wrote, "are
intended to be sung by one or several voices in harmony, but
without the aid of any action. It is the song of love, or
hatred, or grief.... In this, the poetry of the New
Zealanders, the verses do not form rhymes; but each sentence
is metrically arranged."
"In
this waiata the poetess coolly requests the wife of the
person, for whom she acknowledges an unlawful passion, not
to be angry with her, because the lawful wife always has
possession of the person of her husband: while hers is only
an empty, platonic sort of love. This is rather a favourite
sentiment, and is not unfrequently introduced similarly into
love songs of this description."
1877
- Carleton, Hugh. The Life of Henry Williams [Vol.
II.] [Pages
51-100]
Carleton
tells the story of how a 17 year old farmhand, Maketu
Wharetotara, killed an entire British family in the Bay of
Islands in 1842, and was hanged. His father Ruhe went to Hone
Heka and demanded vengance, not for Meketu's death, but for
the insulting method used. He recited a variant of "Kaore te
aroha mohukihuki ana." When Carleton was researching this
incident 35 years later, his informants quoted the words of
the passionate woman version, but they said the meaning was
different.
They
claimed Hukanui was where some great battle was fought and
where a chief named Moka was killed. The allusion to Maketu
being killed would at once be understood by Hone Heka. In the
song, an appeal to avenge Moka's death was being made to Kiri,
a noted warrior of olden time, the position in which Heke was
now. Tauwhare was apparently a battle field, on which Moka's
death was avenged by Kiri. They said Rawhirawhi was either
another name for Kiri, or another warrior who had joined Kiri.
1885
- C. O. Davis, Maori Poetry, a Love Song, NZ Herald, 17
October 1885
"The
following is a metrical translation of an ancient Maori
love song. It is one of the best known poems amongst the
natives, being familiar to every tribe from the North Cape
to Stewart's Island. It celebrates the hopeless affection
of a girl for a youth named Poukawa Rawhi-rawhi, who
belonged to one of the Waikato tribes. The name is
abbreviated in the translation, according to Maori custom.
Fondly
my passion, like a burning flame,
Enkindles
at the mention of thy name;
Absent
at Hakanui though thou be,
Yet
still in spirit am I near to thee.
Think not, O Kiri, that I calmly sleep,
Through
the long night I ever watchful keep;
Consumed
by love, a stranger to repose,
I
dread my secret passion to disclose;
For then my face would show the thrills I feel
As
fond emotions o'er my spirit steal.
On
through Tauwhare's wilds I sadly stray,
And
then to Rawhi's house I find my way.
"O,
sister, be not angry; he is thine,
Then
let his passing shadow still be mine."
1889
- John White, The Ancient History of the Maori, His
Mythology and Traditions. Awatea, Taranaki, Ngati Hau,
Ngati Ruanui. Upoko
19
White
simply copies Grey's version of this waiata, but he places
it in his book between the stories of the first people to
Taranaki and the first people who went from Whanganui to
Taupo. So presumeably he collected the waiata from that
area.
1896
- Hui Maori, Speeches
to the Prime Minister at his first Maori Hui, August
29, 1896.
This is the waiata powhiri for the Prime Minister: -
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Kaore
te aroha mohukihuki ana
Te panga mai ki ahau,
Me he ahi e toro
Kei Ingarangi Te Kuini,
Tenei ka tata mai,
Kei tohu mai e Kui!
Kei te au ko te moe,
Kei te mata tu tonu,
I te roa ko te po,
Kai toro puku ai
te mahara i a au,
E kore ra e puakina
Kei rangona e te tini.
Te putanga ki waho ra
Me he tohu aku mata.
I nga rori ka takoto,
Kei Poneke ra ia,
Ko te ara tonu ia
I whanatu ai nga Mema,
Kia uru tomokia
te whare o te Pirimia.
Kei riri mai Kawana,
Mau ano te tinana o te Pire,
Maku te ata
o te tapara kau atu-e.
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How
great is the passion gnawing away
It came on me
like the fire that raged
in England when I met
the Queen
This one is
near me,
Guiding me, that old lady,
even in my sleep.
I lie awake
Through the long night,
For the thought to prey
on me in secret.
It shall never he confessed,
lest it be heard of by all.
The only evidence
shall he seen in my eyes.
On the road which extends
to Wellington:
That path
I trod to the Honourable
Member
That I might enter
The house of the Premier
You may be angry with me, Governor
But for you there is the actual Bill
of Parliament.
For me there remains
only the shadow of desire.
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1935 - James Cowan, Ruhe's Pathetic Chant - The New
Zealand Railways Magazine 2
Dec 1935
"A
variety of grievances set Heke on the warpath and made the
British flag on the Maiki signal-mast the special object
of his hate. The story of all this is well-known; but what
is not widely known is the fact that the chanting of a
song was the culminating incident that set Hone Heke
mustering his followers for battle.
Maketu, the first Maori hanged by process of law in New
Zealand, was the son of the old chief Ruhe. The father
acknowledged the justice of the death sentence (for the
murder of the Robertson family on Arohia Island), but the
ignominious manner of death shocked the people, and the
old man grieved over it continually. At last, in 1844, he
went to Hone Heke at Kaikohe and chanted to him a lament
for his son, beginning with these words:
“Kaore
te aroha mohukihuki ana, te panga mai ki ahau, me he ahi e
tahu.”
“Alas, this all-devouring grief,
that burns within me like
a flame.”
This was an adaptation of an ancient poem in which a great
warrior was called upon to avenge the death of a kinsman.
Ruhe's chant aroused the intense sympathy of Heke and his
Ngati-Hine and many other clans of Ngapuhi; it was
probably the clinching element in the general feeling of
rebellion against British authority, symbolised by the
flag and the mast on which it flew on Maiki Hill."
(Despite
this, Ruhe remained neutral during the Northern War of
1845–46 and acted as a peacemaker in relation to Hōne Heke.
From Puketutu, Ruhe supplied pigs and potatoes to both
sides. In 1865 Ruhe shot himself.)
Other 19th
century waiata named "Kaore Te Aroha"
Himene 1847 - Kaore te aroha, ki te kororia tapu, e
wawae ake ana, i te ara kuiti.... More
A
Te Toenga - Kaore te aroha, E huri i roto ra, Tau kei
Kapiti, E moea atu nei,... More
Mo
Puanake
- Kaore te aroha e tama i a au, Whakarongo ki roto ra me he
tai e wawara i... More...
And
lots of others, listed on this index page. Nga
Moteatea
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