Paea Li‘ekina - The Lone Traveller ^Featured

1. Spring is near, birds over flocked

Dust lifts from the ancient roads
People and bees are humming
Yet, another day in this unfamiliar home
5. Anticipating every turn
Same old paving greets my feet with the usual grin
Questions ascend like familiar tones
If destiny embraces us at all
Words uttered and exchanged
10. Company at last in this despised place
Almost free am I, from the bound of solidarity
Marvel in its transitory relief, seduced by greed
The sun drowns as the night falls
Chill of the evening echoes in my bones
15. Another dream again to endure
My only escape from this external torture
Overwhelmed by excitement only to ponder
Disrupted by birds at the crack of dawn
Another day to embrace without choice
20. My dear friend for the many days to follow
Your story wrenched my soul out of its root
Sweat off my eyes and tears seep through my pores
A hollow vessel manned by torrents
Breathless moments, heart with no rhythm
25. Heaven and Earth are torn apart
Hell and the horizon collapse into one
Wishing my body but not of yours
For your offer, even eternity cannot bear
But I hold all the gods responsible
30. Given the odds why does it have to be yours
They witnessed with their backs turned
A fool’s lack of flesh, why do they not interfere
Belittled by my knowledge of courage
For I only know fear
35. My cup is empty with sorrow
May yours be filled with hope
May the Queen of Sheba once more
Flaunt her incense in the season’s flora
A grace praised by the traveller from afar
40. A chant, a sigh of fond memoirs
Distance is kept for I am unsure
Destiny be my worthy rivalry
My quest in symmetry may be in jeopardy
Interfere with fate and embrace consequence
45. Resisting the flesh tightens the bounds,
That lingers in the hollows of my soul
May I remain at this abode
Until eternity claims what it’s rightfully owned
If the world was mine to give
50. Expect the universe to be gifted
For I’m no longer imprisoned
By fear of the unknown
Fear no more, for it is no longer a bother
History is often written with tears
55. May I take it with me
And leave you with the future

A brief literary note of reflection

Paea Li‘ekina – The Lone Traveller was composed by Sēmisi Fetokai Potauaine in London, when he was an artist-in-residence at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK, in 2010 upon winning the Commonwealth International Connection Arts Residency award in 2009.

The single 56-kohi/line Paea Li‘ekina – The Lone Traveller poem is a love poetry, which is known in Tongan as ta‘anga ‘ofa (poetry of love) and/or ta‘anga kakala (poetry of sweet-scent flowers). The Tongan terms – ta‘anga ‘ofa and ta‘anga kakala – which both mean love poetry – are often interchanged, with kakala used as a heliaki or metaphor for love (‘ofa) for both their sweet-smell and beauty.

The poem Paea Li‘ekina – The Lone Traveller rings true of Tongan ta‘anga ‘ofa and/or ta‘anga kakala, where love (‘ofa) is equated with death (mate). When, for example, the poet wants to die (mate), it quite simply means, one is in real love (‘ofa), Herein, love (‘ofa) as a noble human sentiment knows no bounds, including death (mate) as a heroic act of human sacrifice (feilaulau).

As for the poet, the lone traveller to distant lands, surrounded by a life of both constant hopelessness and homelessness (li‘ekina), as all true Tongan poets of love poetry really do, love (‘ofa) conquers all!