My Pepeha

My awa is a pristine lake

That sits atop my maunga

Like a sparkling crown

Or at least that’s what I’ve always been told

I have never seen my awa

Or felt its waters on my skin

Wrapping me in the wairua of my Ātua

I have never climbed my maunga

Or felt its whenua beneath my feet

Grounding me in the mana of my tūpuna

I have only ever visited them on google earth

Where my awa is called some name I’ve never heard

But last year Mum got to climb our maunga

For the first time in her life

With a small rōpu from our marae

They had to get permission

From the Pākehā farmer who owns the land

Bought from the government 

Who took it for railroads they never built

Mum says our awa sits at the foot of our maunga

And a lot of the water is gone

Ko ahau te awa, 

ko te awa, ko ahau

No reira, e tangi ana ahau, 

“Kei hea tōku wai?”

Engari, ko ahau te maunga hoki, 

Ko te māunga, ko ahau

And Mum says the view from the top

Is spectacular

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