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Home  »  library  »  poem  »  Song for the Crowning of Pomare

C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

Song for the Crowning of Pomare

By Tahitian Literature

Translation of John LaFarge

THE SKY flashes like a torch that is thrown.

It is the welcome of the surroundings.

Tahiti trembles.

It is the coming of thy king from Hawiri,

Wearing his girdle of scarlet feathers.

Welcome Pomare,

King of many isles.

Thou hast put down

The elder power of Matue.

Thou goest outside of the reefs of Hitiaa.

At Vaiatis is thy house.

Thou wilt go to the shores of Tautira,

But thou wilt long for the murmurs of the Pare.

Thou wilt go and thou wilt find the little pass at Paite;

It is like the seat of Pomare.

Courage, Paite, it is the crowning!

Courage at the power of Pomare!

Pomare is the king who has been turned to light

With the consent of the god.

Courage, Pare, it is the crowning of thy king!