Hone Tuwhare 1922-2008
He Mihi Aroha
Kua hinga te Totara i te Wao-nui-a-Tâne, te tohunga, ma te kupu, i whakairo i te ngakau o te tangata.
No reira e te rangatira - takoto mai … takoto mai ... Takoto mai ki raro i o kahui maunga.
I tuku mihi aroha hoki matou o Te Ara Whanui o Te Ao, ki to whanau, o iwi, ki nga hau e wha o te motu, e papouri ana i to wehenga atu i te tirohanga tangata.
He maha nga takoha i waihotia e koe hei whangai i te taha hinengaro, i te wairua hoki o te tangata, aa, ka noho whakaiti matou ki o pukenga.
No reira ma haere ra i runga i te Rangimarie ki te kainga tuturu o te tangata.
A Totara has fallen in the great Forest of Tâne, a leader of great mana who was able to carve messages on the hearts of people with his tremendous expertise and character.
From us all at the City Library, we acknowledge your tremendous contribution to us as a nation. You life has left a wonderful legacy for generations to come, you have nourished our minds and our souls, and we are grateful for the gifts you have left with us.
We ask that you lie in peace beneath the mountains of your homelands, and that your wider whânau, your iwi, and the nation be comforted in their grieving. You are a huge loss to the nation, to the world.
Go in peace as you journey back to the Realm from which we all come.
No Ordinary Sun
Tree let your arms fall:
raise them not sharply in supplication
to the bright enhaloed cloud.
Let your arms lack toughness and
resilience for this is no mere axe
to blunt nor fire to smother.Your sap shall not rise again
to the moon’s pull.
No more incline a deferential head
to the wind’s talk, or stir
to the tickle of coursing rain.Your former shagginess shall not be
wreathed with the delightful flight
of birds nor shield
nor cool the ardour of unheeding
lovers from the monstrous sun.Tree let your naked arms fall
nor extend vain entreaties to the radiant ball.
This is no gallant monsoon’s flash,
no dashing trade wind’s blast.
The fading green of your magic
emanations shall not make pure again
these polluted skies . . . for this
is no ordinary sun.
O tree
in the shadowless mountains
the white plains and
the drab sea floor
your end at last is written.
