Page:Tales-of-Banks-Peninsula Jacobson 2ed 1893 cropped.pdf/311

Here, on Onawe’s fated strand,
The last poor remnant of thy race
Shall struggle for their fathers’ land,
And coming Pakehas will trace
The mighty earthworks raised in vain
Against the conquering Northern train.”

The tempest ceased, the spirit fled;
Once more the radiant sunbeams shed
Their glories over earth and sea;
And the fierce tribe that long had stood
Owners of land, and wave and wood,
Knew well the Atua’s prophecy
Was true, and that Ngai Tahu’s race
Should quickly fall from power and place,
And, conquered, fighting die!

True was the Atua’s warning dread
E’er fifty summer suns had shed
Their rays upon Onawe’s head,
The fierce Te Rauparaha^[1] came,
And Ngatitoas’^[2] warriors bold
Stormed fierce Ngai Tahu’s storied hold,
And left them—scarce a name!
And where the Atua once had reigned,
The dreaded Northern warriors drained
The life-blood of their foes.
But even now, when feuds are o’er,
And peace reigns on the tranquil shore,
The Maori chieftain shows
Tho mighty earthworks of the past—
Where brave Ngai Tahu made the last
Great struggle for their land;
And, fighting with their Northern foes,
Found in grim death their last repose
On fair Onawe’s strand!