E te ope tuatahi
No Aotearoa,
No Te Wai-pounamu,
No nga tai e wha.
Ko koutou ena
E nga rau e rima,
Ko te Hokowhitu toa
A Tu-mata-uenga:
I hinga ki Ihipa,
Ki Karipori ra ia;
E ngau nei te aroha,
Me te mamae.

E te ope tuarua,
No Mahaki rawa,
Na Hauiti koe,
Na Porourangi:
I haere ai Henare
Me to Wiwi,
I patu ki te pakanga,
Ki Paranihi ra ia.
Ko wai he morehu
Hei kawe korero
Ki te iwi nui e,
E taukuri nei?

E te ope tuaiwa
No Te Arawa,
No Te Tai-rawhiti,
No Kahungunu.
E haere ana 'hau
Ki runga o Wiwi
Ki reira 'hau nei,
E tangi ai.
Me mihi kau atu
I te nuku o te whenua,
Hei konei ra e,
E te tau pumau.

[Translation.]

We greet our first war band
From Aotea-roa,
From the Island of Greenstone:
We sing of our warriors,
Our gallant Five Hundred,
The chosen heroes
Of Tu-mata-uenga,
The Angry-Eyed War God.
Some fell in Egypt,
Some on Gallipoli;
Now pangs of sharp sorrow
Our sad hearts are piercing.

From the Coast of the Sunrise,
Came our Second Contingent,
The men of Mahaki;
Men of Tolago Bay,
Warriors of Ngati-Porou.
Farewell, O Henare,^*
Who led your company
And fell in war's thunder
Nobly fighting in France.
And who will survive there
To take the last message
To our own loved people
In dark sorrow bowed?

Our Ninth fighting Contingent
Comes from Te Arawa,
From the Coast of the Sunrise
From Kahungunu's land.
And now I am leaving
For France's red war fields.
There I'll remember;
My heart will send greetings
O'er far land and ocean
To my own constant love.