Waiata 47: He mea whakamāori, nā ngā Waiata a Wiremu Hākipia
A translation into Māori of William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 47
He whakaritenga i waenga i te kanohi, i te ngākau nei:
Heoi, kua pai ai a rāua manaaki i a rāua;
Ki te hiakai te kanohi ki te titiro,
Ki te tāmoea rānei te ngākau aroha i te hotu
Ka kai te kanohi me te āhua o taku tau,
Ā, ka pōwhiritia hoki te ngākau ki te hākari ātaahua;
He wā anō, ko te kanohi tō te ngākau manuhiri
Ā, ka whaipānga ai ki ōna whakaaro aroha.
Heoi, nā tōu āhua, nā tōku aroha rānei,
Ahakoa ka ngaro koe, kei ahau tonu koe:
E kore e taea hoki koe te karo i ōku whakaaro,
Ā, kei ahau tonu rātou, kei a koe hoki rātou;
Ki te moe rānei rātou, ko tōu āhua kei taku titiro
Whakaara ai i te ngākau ki tō rāua ko kanohi koa.
Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took
And each doth good turns now unto the other;
When that mine eye is famished for a look,
Or heart in love with sighs himself doth smother,
With my love’s picture then my eye doth feast,
And to the painted banquet bids my heart;
Another time mine eye is my heart’s guest,
And in his thoughts of love doth share a part.
So either by thy picture or my love,
Thyself away, art present still with me:
For thou no further than my thoughts canst move,
And I am still with them, and they with thee;
Or if they sleep, thy picture in my sight
Awakes my heart to heart’s and eye’s delight.
Image: A Whare Kai [dining house] at Te Pahou marae [Ngāti Rangataua] built to accommodate 400 people, on the occasion of the Governor’s visit to Whakatāne, 1899, photo taken by Henry Winklemann. National Library, Wellington. Catalogue entry here.