This passionate dream-song of one man's unrequited love was performed for tourists at Whakarewarewa in the 1920s, and it is still very popular today.

 

Three verses from Whakarewarewa in 1935

The three verses below comprise the original version of an action song collected and recorded by Ernest McKinlay at Whakarewarewa in the early 1930s. For the singable English verses, he acknowledges the assistance he had from his friends -- guide Maggie Papakura, Sir Peter Buck and Wiremu H. Rangi. He collected and recorded ten other songs as well, and these collected verses, translations and music scores were published as "Maori Songs," (W H Paling Sydney, 1936)

Action song at Whakarewarewa

Me he manu rere ahau e, Kua rere ki to moenga, Ki te awhi to tinana, E te tau tahuri mai. Kei te moe te tinana, Kei te wāke1 te wairua, Kei te hotu te manawa, E te tau tahuri mai. Haere, haere ra e hine Whakangaro i konei Waiho ahau i muri nei Tangi hotu hotu ai.		Sweetheart, were I e'er so small a bird, Swiftly to your loving arms I'd fly, There to hold you and caress you, My beloved, turn to me. Tho' my body still is sleeping, Yet my spirit hovers near thee, Still for you my heart is beating Oh my darling come to me. Now a long farewell e hine Must you go away and leave me Here alone in grief I'm pining Sobbing for you tenderly.
Note 1        Wāke. A word borrowed from English. Literally Walking.         Compare this with         I te unga o ngā waka ka wāke mai ki konei.         When the canoes landed they walked here. Tai Tokerau Online Maori Dictionary.

A 1950s Maori cowboy's song

A 1960 women's action song

Alan Anderson and Reupena Ngata printed these words, plus actions, in "Maori Action Songs" (A H Reed, 1960).
The song is about a man having a passionate dream while he is asleep, so when women sang it as an action song, the Maori words in the second verse were altered from te to become tō, with Tho' my body is sleeping becoming Tho' your body is sleeping.

Misprinted as Mehe in 1975

Inia Te Wiata's Maori Songbook (A H Reed 1975), printed the song as Mehe (sic) Manu Rere.
A few other people have copied this misprint, although Mehe is not a Maori word.
Me (like, if) and He (a, some) are two distinct words.
And as well as keeping the change "You may be sleeping," Te Wiata's translation has also gone further to "your spirit" and "your heart."

Tune

Verse two is sung with some interesting harmonies.

Trivia

Me He Manu Rere, sung by St Joseph's Maori Girls choir, was used in the closing sequence of the 1986 Jodie Foster movie, My Letter to George, a.k.a. Mesmerized. The film was rated as a badly written and produced story of an orphaned 18-year-old New Zealand girl who marries a much older businessman, is sexually abused by him and uses hypnotism to kill him.