Ha‘u Mu‘a Keta O (Come Ye Along, Let‘s Stroll) ^Featured

 Liliulea ‘Ingilisi ‘e ‘I. Futa Helu (English translation by ‘I. Futa Helu)

 Kupu, veesi, 1                                        

 Ha‘u mu‘a keta o                                  

‘O mata mahinahopo                              

Keta ‘uta mo fanongo                              

Si‘i le‘o ‘o e teiko                                     

‘A si‘ene siu he lilifa                               

He moana loloto                                     

Ko si‘ene fakalavetala                           

Ki he hingano                                          

 Kupu, veesi, 2                                        

 Hake atu ki toafa                                   

Tu‘u ai ‘o mamata                                 

Ne hange ha sio‘ata                               

Si‘ene tapa mei he vaha                           

Kuo ‘ikai keu kei lava                            

Ke fa‘a fakamatala                                 

‘A e to‘onga fakalata                              

‘A e si‘i sialetafa                                               

English Translation

Verse 1

Come let‘s go together

And view the wondrous moonrise

And let‘s tarry and hear

The cry of the teiko

Flying round the sheer cliffs

O‘er the eerie deep

It‘s his love serenade

To the hingano

Verse 2                                    

Turn up to the treeless plain

Stand now and look

How like a great mirror

Shining from the ocean

Ah, but I simply cannot

Describe to you in full

Lovely, winning ways

Of the sialetafa

Ko e ki‘i fakamatala moe huluhulu nounou

 Na‘e fakafatu, fakafa‘u mo fakaafo, fakafasi ‘ae ta‘anga hiva kakala malie fau ‘Ha‘u Mu‘a Keta O’ ‘ehe punake kakato ko Poasi he 1880 ta‘u, ‘aia koe foha ‘o Koate koe ‘eiki lahi Ha‘atakalaua ‘o Longomapu he muifonua fakahihifo ‘o Vava‘u Lahi na‘e mali moe ‘ofefine ‘o Palefau koe ‘eiki lahi moe to‘a tete‘e ‘o Tu‘anekivale ‘oku tu‘u he muifonua fakahahake (vakai kia Kik Velt 2000*). Na‘e liliu ‘ae ta‘anga hiva kakala ‘e ‘I. Futa Helu mei he lea Tonga kihe lea ‘Ingilisi (vakai kia ‘I. Futa Helu 1999, 2012**).

 ‘Oku matamata mo ngalingali na‘e fatu mo fa‘u ‘e Poasi ‘ae hiva ni ki hono hoa ‘ofa‘aga mei Tu‘anekivale ‘oku ‘iloa koe fai‘anga ‘oe mamata he mahina ‘ene hopo he po‘uli he tu‘aliku, ‘o hange ha fefine hoihoifua ‘ene kakau he moana loloto. ‘Oku ne ngaue‘aki lelei ‘ae mata mahinahopo fakataha moe teiko, moanalotolo, moe hingano moe toafa, sio‘ota, vaha, moe sialetafa (kupu, veesi, 1 & 2) koe heliaki fakafetongiaki, heliaki fakafekauaki, moe heliaki fakafefonuaki, ‘aia koe ‘lea kihe me‘a ‘e taha kae ‘uhinga kihe me‘a ‘e taha.’

 ‘Oku malie fau ‘ena hifo atu mo hono ‘ofa‘anga ki moana he liku ‘o mamata he mahina ‘ene hopo he loloto mo faka‘uta mo fakafanongo kihe le‘o ifo mo vovo ‘oe teiko he‘ene siu takai mo vilo holo he lilifa he moana loloto moe to‘onga fakalavetala ‘ae hingano. ‘Oku hohoatatau ‘ena hifo ki moana mo ‘ena toe hake ki toafa ‘i ‘uta ‘o tu‘u mo mamata lelei he malama ‘ae mahina ‘ene hange ha sio‘ata ‘ene tapakina mei he moana vavale ‘o hulungia ‘ae sialetafa he me‘a fakavale mo fakatauele ‘ene to‘onga fakalata mo fakangalongata‘a.

 In brief summary

 This most beautiful love song ‘Come Ye Along, Let‘s Stroll’ is said to have composed by great poet Poasi around 1880, who was the son of Koate, a Ha‘atakalua chief of Longomapu at the westernmost tip of Vava‘u Lahi. Poasi was married to the daughter of high chief and notable warrior Palefau of Tu‘anekivale, situated at the easternmost top. The village of Tu‘anekivale is traditionally associated with the old practice of mata-mahinahopo, moonrise-watching, taking the imagery of a gracious woman swimming at night in the deep ocean.

 The poet both creatively and innovatively makes affective and effective use of all the three types of heliaki, namely, qualitative epiphoric heliaki, associative metaphoric heliaki, and constitutive heliaki, which generally means ‘metaphorically saying one thing but really meaning another.’ Herein, the connection and separation, that is, intersection, between the ‘metaphorical’ and the ‘real’ are mediated through sustained symmetry, harmony, and beauty, thereby transforming them from a condition of chaos to a state of order.

 The poet begins by freely inviting his sweetheart to take a stroll with him to watch the wondrous moonrise at the connection and separation or intersection, of the cliff and sea and treeless-plain and land, duly mediated in the creative process. Herein, the teiko bird flies around with both style and grace, framed by both the seascape and landscape, which is intensified by both the depth of the ocean and breadth of the land surrounding the sweet-scent hingano and sialetafa flowers, all in a real but ethereal state of intense serenity and immense beauty. 

(Soosi, sources: **“Critical Essays: Cultural Perspectives from the South Seas” by ‘I. Futa. Helu [1999: 283], and “On Tongan Poetry” by ‘I. Futa Helu [2012: 38-39]; and *“Langi Tau‘olunga & Hiva Kakala” by Kik Velt [2000: 25]).