Te
Kooti modified an older
version of this waiata that called for
revenge. In contrast, he calls for Christian
forgiveness and peace.
Takoto rawa iho
ki Te Po,
E huihui ana mai o tatou wairua
Kia piri, kia tata mai ki taku taha.
Matatu tonu ake,
ka maranga kai1
runga;
Whiti rere ki te ao,
tirotiro kau au.
A, me he wairua atua
te tarehutanga iho!
E te manawa i roto,
kapakapa tu ana,
ka maranga kai1
runga e!
Eventually, when
I'm lying down
at night the
spirits of our dead
gather all around,
entwined,
close to my side.
My eyes gradually open,
and sitting up,
wide awake in the dawn,
I look about, but
I'm all
alone:
like divine spirits,
the visions have vanished.
How my heart was throbbing
down there; I must get up!
Homai
he mata
kia haea ki taku rae,
Taku pane
whainga mai e aku hoa.
Kia mauria atu ra, e Kawe, na Ture3
te aroha
me te Rongopai4hoki e Kia kite mai koutou
ko ahau ra tēnei A, e whai
mai ana i te ara
i haere ai te
maungarongo
ki Te Tai
Rawhiti
Tēna ka paea
nga hiwi maunga ki Tiwhanui.6
Give me
an obsidian blade
to lacerate my forehead,
my head
is attacked22
by myfriends.
Grasp the concept,
O Kawe that Scriptural
law must be loved
and the Good News also thus you all may see
it is indeed myself,
seeking the pathway,
that will bring peace to the East
Coast5
though I am now stranded on
the coastal cliffs near
Lake Tutira.
Ko te
rongo pai tena i a koutou,
He rongo toa mai,
kai ana ki te tahatu o te rangi! Kati, ka
puta to rongo toa,
kai pēhia mai e te
ture.
He toaano
koe, me
whakamutu te mauahara7
ē.
Kia ata whakaputa,
tēnē ano ra nga tamariki toa
na Te
Kotahitanga,8
Kai te rangi e haere ana!
Nga kupu o te
rangimarie,
takahia turanga
rori
kai1
Kaingaroa.
Ko to tinana i noho atu,
ko to rongo i piki
mai,
i wani mai i runga o nga maunga,
Tae ana mai
ki ahau
e noho atu nei i te kainga
Kia whakatauki au i konei,
Aue! Taukiri, e!
Those are splendid
reports about you;
A reputation for bravery
that resounds to the horizon! Stop,
your brave reputation will be lost, if you are
subdued by the
British law.
Warriors you
still are but you must
stop the hatred!
Be aware;
there are many brave sons
of The Unity
Movement
going to heaven by the words of
peace. May your stance
be stamped out on the road at
Kaingaroa!
Your bodies live there
But news about you is increasing,
Skimming swiftly o'er the mountain tops. continually
reaching me
living here at the village,
And thus I now speak proverbially,
Alas! Mournful am I!
Te Kooti composed many moteatea
(like Kaore
Hoki te Mānukanuka) and adapted many
others so that the knowledge, perceptions and
experiences from the ancestral past were
brought to bear on the present. He was a
subtle and complex poet.
1.
Kai is not 'food' but
the East Coast dialect variant of
'kei.' "Kai te pai?"
2. My
head is attacked - a figure of
speech. Te Kooti's leadership and ideas were
being attacked.
3.
Ture - the Old Testament - Ten
Commandments."Thou shalt not steal."
4.
Te Rongopai - the New Testament's
"Go-spel" or Good News. "Love your neighbour."
5.Te Kooti is referring to a peace-making
visit to Gisborne which he had hoped to make in
December 1884.
6.
Tiwhanui - When many East Coast Maori
and Pakeha expressed their strong opposition to
his visit, he was forced to abandon his plans
and stop at Tiwhanui instead. It is on a coastal
cliff 12 km east of Lake Tūtira.
7. Mauahara
- the opposition of the people who did not want
him to visit their region.
8.
Te Kotahitanga is an
expression which Te Kooti employed in
prophesying the coming of a time when the iwi of
Aotearoa would gain strength through unity.