Kapiolani In Rarotongan

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Title:     Kapiolani In Rarotongan
Author: John Oxenham [More Titles by Oxenham]

Mr. F.W. Christian, of the Polynesian Society of New Zealand, whose personal acquaintance with the South Sea Islands and their dialects is unique, is translating "Kapiolani" into Rarotongan. He writes--

"I enclose a four-line stanza which, translating your first line--'Where the great green combers break,' etc.--strictly according to East Polynesian ballad-metres, ushers in your great theme.

"'Kapiolani' will, I trust, God willing, become a household classic in many of the Eastern Islands, such as Rapa and Manahiki, where the Rarotongan language runs current as a sort of Lingua Franca or Sacred Esperanto, thanks to the magnificent translation of the Bible by the great missionary, John Williams. I have translated the poem most carefully, and as accurately as possible into the peculiar metre and cast of expression which an Eastern Polynesian 'Atu-Pe'e, or Versifier, would immediately grasp as idiomatic. The first lines run thus:--"

Tei te ngai mangungu--anga no te an ngaru roro'a
Ki runga no te punga matoato'a
Ngaru kerekere, ngaru mamaata e tini
Ki runga no te 'Akau-Pipini.

[The end]
John Oxenham's poem: Kapiolani In Rarotongan

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