The Song Of The Cicada [[maori 'tātarakihi'] Poem by Keith Shorrocks Johnson

Singing children:
School platoon on the march,
shepherded carefully
by the harbourside
to Te Papa.

I listen
to the song
of this wiggly taniwha

telling of the cicadas
lost to the night
… and Parihaka.

Tara ra ta ki ta ki ta
Tara ra ta ki ta ki ta

Stumbling-bumping,
kerfuffle-shuffling
clumsily-queuing:
chanting their haka.

Nga tamariki e waiata
ana i te Tātarakihi

The children
and their song
about the cicada.