MAUI’S FISH
Still alive is that Fish!
Here, on the edge of the world, on the rim of the morning,
She stands, Tangaroa’s dear daughter, a vigorous virgin,
Fresh from the foam.
Still the daylight is young in her eyelids, and on her full forehead;
Her brown limbs gleam from the bath,
Dew is yet in her wind-tossing hair.
The wild winds are her walls, and she stands here, untamed as sea-water,
Brave with the heart of the Ocean, sweet with the heart of the Sun.
Ay!
A sea-wind for freshness, a sea-wave for brightness,
A sea-sunrise for beauty, a strong sea for strength,
Here she stands, Maui’s Fish, here she shines, a new Land from the Ocean,
Alive ’mid the ever-live Sea.
Alive! Yea, Te Ika—
Of the Bone of the Past, of the Blood of the Present,
Here, at the end of the earth, in the first of the Future,
Thou standest, courageous and youthful, a country to come!
Lo, thou art not defiled with the dust of the Dead, nor beclouded with thick clouds of Custom:
But, springs and quick sources of life all about thee, within thee,
Splendid with freshness, radiant with vigour, conspicuous with hope,
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