Waiata 3: He mea whakamāori, nā Wiremu Hākipia i tito
A translation into Māori of William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 3
Tirohia tō whakaata, mea ai ki tāu e whakarae nā
Kua tae mai te wā kia hangaia he kanohi anō;
Ki te kore koe e whakahou i tōna taitamatanga,
Ka tāhae i te ao, ka whakahuakore i tētahi whaea.
Nā, kei hea rā te puhi, ka parahako te whenua
Papatua i te tāmata mai o tāu mahi ahuwhenua?
Ā, ko wai rā te tāne heahea ka whakatoma i a ia anō
Mō tōna aroha takitahi, kia haukoti i te whakapapa?
Ko koe te whakaata a tō whaea, kei roto ia i a koe,
K karanga mai anō i te kōanga o tōna tuatahitanga;
Ka pēnei hoki koe, ahakoa ōu rehe, mā ngā matapihi
O tō taikorotanga, ka kitea ko tō taikōuratanga nei.
Engari, ki te noho kia kore rawa koe e maumaharatia,
Mate takitahi koe, mate hoki ai tōu whakaata.
Look in thy glass and tell the face thou viewest
Now is the time that face should form another;
Whose fresh repair if thou not renewest,
Thou dost beguile the world, unbless some mother.
For where is she so fair whose uneared womb
Disdains the tillage of thy husbandry?
Or who is he so fond will be the tomb
Of his self-love, to stop posterity?
Thou art thy mother’s glass and she in thee
Calls back the lovely April of her prime;
So thou through windows of thine age shalt see,
Despite of wrinkles, this thy golden time.
But if thou live, remembered not to be,
Die single and thine image dies with thee.
Image: ‘Till We Meet Again’, 29 December 1913, Hastings, by Leslie Adkin. Gift of G. L. Adkin family estate, 1964. Te Papa (A.008593). Catalogue entry here.