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Monday, 21 April 2025

Where has she gone? - Naupata

Where has she gone?
 
She has gone to Avaiki,
She disappeared at the edge of the horizon
Where the sun drops through.
We weep for you.
 
Yes, I will forever weep
And continuously seek for you.
 
I shed bitter tears—
I weep for the lost wife of my bosom.
Alas! You will not return.
 
Oh, that you would return!
 
Come back to this world,
Return to my embrace.
You are like a branch torn off by the storm.
 
Torn off, and now in Avaiki—
That distant land to which you fled.

Naupata (date unknown) Cook Islands
Source: The Path of the Ocean, Traditional Poetry of Polynesia, Editor: Marjorie Sinclair, University of Hawai'i Press, 1982 
 
Composed by Naupata in memory of his wife. Avaiki is the land of the dead. The song is performed by a solo voice and chorus alternating.
 
(Creative Commons Attribution - Non Commercial - No Derivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0))

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