Page:Not understood - and other poems (IA notunderstoodoth00braciala).pdf/89

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Again spake gallant Mair, “Oh, friends, you wish for blood and strife,
With blind and stubborn bravery, prefering death to life:
But send your women and your children forth, they shall be free.”
They answered back, “Our women brave will fight as well as we.”
          “Ka Whawhai tonu! Ake! Ake! Ake!”^[1]

Up rose brave Ahumai then, a chieftainess, and said,
“Oh! what have we to live for, if our dearest ones be dead?
If fathers, husbands, brothers too, as mangled corses lie,
Why should we stay behind them here? beside them let us die!”
          “Ka Whawhai tonu! Ake! Ake! Ake!”^[1]

Again the fiery-throated cannon roared aloud for blood,
Again the hungry eagle swooped and shrieked for human food;
Again wild spirits soaring, saw their shattered shells beneath
In pools of gore, and still was heard defiance to the death.
          “Ka Whawhai tonu! Ake! Ake! Ake!”^[1]

Now, now the bold defenders, in a solid body break
Right through the sod-built barricade, o’er palisade and stake,
And leaping o’er the trenches, ’mid a storm of shot and shell;
They rushed to liberty or death, still shouting as they fell:
          “Ka Whawhai tonu! Ake! Ake! Ake!”^[1]

With wild, untutored chivalry the rebels scorn’d disgrace,
Oh, never in the annals of the most heroic race
Was bravery recorded more noble or more high,
Than that displayed at Orakau, in Rewi’s fierce reply:
          “Ka Whawhai tonu! Ake! Ake! Ake!”^[1]

1. We will fight for ever, and ever, and ever.