Tuamotu

Toppled moai

Tuamotu

Lying nose down
In the dirt

For what...two hundred years?

This was the effigy

Of Tuamotu, he the stardreamer

Whose word in Poike was revered.

He who traced his blood back

To Hotu Matu'a

And the disembarkment at Anakena

He was our lord.

We hauled his likeness here from Rano Raraku

All the able men of Poike

To the beat of a drum

Day by day

Inch by inch...

But he was Tuamotu

What would we not have given

To honour his memory?

Day by day we hauled

With womenfolk and children

Bringing mud and leaves

To slide him along the moai road

Till before two moons had passed

We brought him back to our beloved Poike

And raised him

Inch by inch

Sinew by sinew

The old ones chanting,

Advising, applauding

Inch by inch we pulled

Stones and sand wedged him

Till there he stood

Tuamotu - on his ahu at last

Lord of Poike

Surveying his people

Again.

We made him tall and strong

So that he would endure

Long into eternity

Like the stars he dreamed of

And the west wind

Rushing over the cliffs of Orongo

But there he lies

Nose in the dirt

Kissing the land that he loved

But with his back

To the stars

He dreamed of

Poike peninsula

Glossary

Hotu Matu'a - The legendary founder of the island race who came from the west

Anakena - the sandy bay where the first settlers reputedly landed.

Rano Raraku - A crater where 95% of the moai were created

Poike - The mysterious peninsula in the north east of the island.