Hinemoa and Tutanekai

One day Hinemoa and Tutanekai ventured out on the still water. The sun shone down and lay across them, like silk. They told each other tales from their lives. They cried and laughed, lost in each others history.

So lost were they that they didn’t see the fog roll in. Billowing waves enveloped them before they had time to identify the shoreline. They grew fearful as mists filled the boat, turning the two lovers to shadows.

Hinemoa reached out for Tutanekai but the boat began to rock. Tutanekai’s worried a keening song to which Hinemoa gave words from their shared history.

The song was all they knew. It named them. Resounding off the cliff walls beyond the beach. Their chorus called them home where they claimed the shore.

To this day, when winds blow in from ocean storms, they say you can hear the song of Hinemoa in the lapping waves.

Napier, NZ 2005