Pö Atarau

KUPU MĀORI

Pö atarau

E moea iho nei
E haere ana
Koe ki pämamao

Haere rä
Ka hoki mai anö
Ki i te tau
E tangi atu nei

TRANSLATION

On a moonlit night
I see in a dream
You going away
To a distant land

Farewell,
But return again
To your loved one,
Weeping here

 

In new Zealand these 16 bars of Swiss Cradle Song were changed from 4/4 time to 3/4 time to become the tune for Po Atarau.

A Maori elder who was at Te Aute College in 1915 and 1916 said everyone was singing it there at the College because of its appropriate farewell theme during those war years when so many young men were embarking for Gallipoli and France.

These words seem to have been added to and modified by various people. The Grace and Awatere family shearing gang from Tuparoa on the East Coast used the Swiss Cradle tune in 1919.

According to Dick Grace, who was a small boy at the time, after hearing the Swiss Cradle song played by the pianist accompanying the silent movie pictures at Gisborne they wrote a verse in English and two in Maori. They called the song Po Ata Rau. The 1973 LP, Maori Song and Rhythm, by the Ma-wai-hakona Musical group concludes with Po Atarau (farewell song) attributed to the Grace and Awatere families.