Manatu [English translation]

These clothes feel so strange on me

Stranger still are these shoes

Taken to another world1

I’m now crying for my home2

Tell me where my mother is

She forgot to explain things to me

Tell me where my father is

I thought I heard him leave this morning

Heavily, yearning, describing

The purpose of this journey

Searching for answers in this small room

I can only think of my river

My friends are searching for me

But no matter how hard I try

There’s no way for me to answer them

I’m homesick , I’m longing

For my family

I’m longing for my home

Here I sit all by myself

In this darkness, my head aches

With sadness - this darkness - with sadness

1. fenua=land/country2. kaiga=family/kin/people

• Artist:Te Vaka
• Album:The Legend of Johnny Lingo (2006)