Waiata 6: He mea whakamāori, nā ngā Waiata a Wiremu Hākipia
A translation into Māori of William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 6
Kia kauraka a Takurua-ringa-pakaru
E whakakino i tō Raumati ā-roto
I muri i tō iheutanga.
Hangaia rekaia tētahi ipuriki
Whakataongaia ai tētahi wāhi
Ki te taonga o te Ātaahua
I muri ia e mate i a ia anake
Ehara tērā ritenga i te kaiwhakatuputupu moni tapu.
Engari kē, ko te nama pīrangitia ka whakahari ai i te kaiutu.
Ka riro māu hei whakatupu he koe anō,
Ā, hei takitekautia rānei te koa, whakatekautia ai te kotahi!
Harikoa ake tō whaiaro takitekautia i a koe anake,
Ki te whaka-tekau-hangatia anōtia koe e te takitekau!
Tēnā, mā te mate ka aha?
Ka hemo ana koe,
Ka waiho iho i a koe,
e ora ana ā-whakatupuranga.
Kaua e kakī mārō.
He ātaahua rawa hoki koe
Kia riro i te pō,
hei whāngai noke.
Then let not winter’s ragged hand deface,
In thee thy summer, ere thou be distilled:
Make sweet some vial; treasure thou some place
With beauty’s treasure ere it be self-killed.
That use is not forbidden usury,
Which happies those that pay the willing loan;
That’s for thy self to breed another thee,
Or ten times happier, be it ten for one;
Ten times thy self were happier than thou art,
If ten of thine ten times refigured thee:
Then what could death do if thou shouldst depart,
Leaving thee living in posterity?
Be not self-willed, for thou art much too fair
To be death’s conquest and make worms thine heir.
Image: Albert Percy Godber, Kōwhaiwhai patterns from Sketchbook, ink and watercolour, c. 1939, Alexander Turnbull Library. Catalogue entry here.