Taku Manu Tāwhiowhio

Jason King and Valance Smith - 2011

I te marama o Hakihea, i te tau 2010, i toko ake te huatau kia titoa tētehi waiata mō Tā Pāora Reeves. Nā tōna kaha ki te mahi i te ao Māori, i te ao Pākehā, ā, i te ao Atua anō hoki. E mohiotia whānuitia ana e te tī, e te tā, ehake a Tā Pāora Reeves i te tangata, he ata kē ia nō te Atua. Ko ia rā hoki te Manukura o te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makau Rau.

Nō reira, he waiata tautoko tēneki waiata. He waiata whakareka hoki i ngana kupu, i ngana kōrero waiwaiā. He waiata e tiutiu atu ana ki ngā manu o te kī, kia whakapiripiri mai ki te rākau taumatua, ki reira kōrerorero ai ngā take o te wā. He pātere e takitaki haere ana i ngā tohu whenua, tohu maunga, tohu awa, tohu moana anō hoki. Kei roto tonu i ngā ingoa o ngā wāhi he kōrero hītori tāngata, he kōrero hītori whenua mō Tāmaki Makau Rau.
He mihi tēneki ki a Valance Smith, nāna te taki o te waiata pātere nei me ngētehi o ngā kupu i tākoha mai. He mihi hoki ki a Ngarimu Blair (Ngāti Whātua), mō ngētehi o ngā whakamārama o ngā ingoa o te wāhi nei. Ko te mihi whakamutunga ki a Tā Pāora Reeves i kapohia ake ia e te ringa o Hine-nui-te-pō i te 14 ō Here-turi-kōkā, i te tau 2011. I tana matenga, i ūwhia a Aotearoa e te hukapapa o Taranaki, he tohu aroha, he tohu whakapono, he tohu rangatira.

Nō reira, e moe e koro, e oki. Kei taku manu tāwhiowhio tiu kore, auē, taukiri ē!