3 Te Ana o Hau

He hid in a towering bluff,
    but with one blow of my fist
        it became an archway down
which he dropped, abseiling
    for dear life—a katipo, God
page 69         damn it! He hit the beach
running, but I was swifter,
    squashing him flat with my foot.
        It was goodbye, Weku boy.
His soul, snatched up by a lizard,
    howled all the way to Te Po.
        Will miss him all the same
when fishing—him and his whoppers.
    That big one out there,
        yeah, Kapiti. It's one that
didn't get away. We fished it up—
    not that trickster Maui,
        with his impudent claims.