Specimens of New Zealand Poetrij. i3-^ 



following dirge of a motlier, a heartfelt effusion of maternal 



affliction for the loss of an only daughter : — 



A LAMENT FOR NGARO. 



Slow wanes the evening star.* It disappears 



To rise again in more glorious skies, 



Where thousands hasten forward to welcome it. 



All that is grand and beautiful has no more value to me, 



For thou wast my sole treasure ! O my daughter ! 



When the sunbeams played above the waves, 



Or glinted through the waving palms. 



Secretly, but with joy, we marked thy sportive gambols 



By the sandy shores of Awapoka. 



Oft in the dawning twilight 



I beheld thee, girt in thy simple robes. 



And accompanied by the daughters of thy people, 



Speed forth, to see gathered the fi'uit of the Main,f 



While the maidens from Tikoro \ 



Sought for thee the mussels hid among the rocks. 



Braving the blinding surf, and caught for thee 



The callow brood of the screaming sea-fowl. 



And when at even the tribes 



Assembled for the repast. 



Beloved companions sought to have thee by their side, 



Eagerly contending who should bestow on thee dainties, 



That they might win a smile from thy lips ; — 



But where art thou now ? Where now ? 



Thou stream which still dost ebb and flow, 



Flow and ebb no more, 



For she that did love thee is gone ! 



Well is it for the people, as of old. 

 To assemble at the feast of pleasm-e ! 

 The canoe still cleaves the air, 

 And dashes aside the foam of the heaving sea. 



* The dead is here spoken of as the evening star, which is supposed to rise in 

 another world, where on its arrivalit is welcomed with greatrejoicings by the thou- 

 sands that have preceded it. 



\ Main is the same as the Kumera, or sweet potato. 



\ Tikoro is the name of a race or tribe of the Hokianga district. 



K 2 



