Tane And Hine-Nui-Te-Po: The Maori Legend Concerning The Permanence Of Death Poem by Keith Shorrocks Johnson

May verse seed hope in death,
Being spent in bliss of love,
Into that great darkness
Where Tane came in dread
To seek redemption and redress.

Formed from the earth
His wife gave birth
And their daughter
The girl of the flashing dawn
Was born in sunlit splendor

But he took this daughter
As his slave and plaything
Until shame caught her
And she fled and sought
The spirit world.

And at its gate
She stopped her lover-father
Bidding him return
To care for their children

Saying: ‘I will see them again
They will come to me in due time'
So death itself was born
And she became the night.

But Tane grew angry,
As those he loved were claimed,
Hating the Dark Child-Mother
But lusting for her still

Then he sought to enter her,
A once and final act,
This time to claim her forever,
Becoming a penis for the task,
Penetrating so deep
He would leave through her mouth
To void the curse.

But vain as he was,
He had summoned the birds
To watch his vengeance
And the little pied tumbler
Or pi'waka'waka laughed,
Waking Hine-nui-te-Po
Who slew Tane with her thighs

And she appointed
Thenceforth the tiny fantail
As her messenger.


Then was mankind lost.

Now as we seek release
Each little death quietens
To an after-silence
Sacred to the dark daughter
And only poetry betrays
Our longings and regrets
For that ever-risen dawn
Still misted from her breath.