I ahu mai te pō i te kore. Mai te pō huahua te wehenga whakaherengia o ranginui e tū iho nei, o papatūānuku e takato nei. Nā Tānetewaiora ngā mātua i motumotu kia puta mai ai te ahoaho hei oranga mō te hekenga mai o tēnei ao tūroa.

E moko e, Ko Hineahuone te matenui o Tānetewaiora. Nāna i auaha i a ia ki te one kurawaka mai te kōpū o Papatūānuku. Nā rāua Ko Hinetītama. Ko tō kuia tūpuna tērā, te wahine tuatahi o tēnei ao marama. Nāu koe te putaina mai o tēnei pīringatahi o te atua, ki te whenua. Te whenua ki te atua.

Te Tīhei o te mauri ora e!

You have no eyes yet but I hope anyway

that when I look at the moon on a clear night

you can see

a reflection of a reflection

of light from the dark

Nōu te pō, nōu te ao

Kei wareware e moko e

Māori parents but no kohanga, a dabbling of kapa haka, and the occasional boil up!

My cousins are hearty Māori karakia for everything, waiata for everything, kai for everything!

I didn't have any of that

But what my parents did teach me

was the importance of whānau whānau first always you know.

And that's about as Māori as it gets.

Don't you reckon?