We are fortunate to live near Lake Maraetai here in Mangakino and we frequently take our dog for his walk there. Nearly every day – when the bloody out-of-towners and their big motorboats and their water-skier tassels aren’t around in the weekends and holidays – we sight the black swans.

The sight of them transports me as they are so ethereal. I always greet them and watch for a while until I have to yell at our dog for being he hīanga. I offer no other words which can capture their presence, their Being, their sheer symbolisation of the mauri which flows through everything.

I write i roto i te reo Maōri mostly these days, less so in te reo Ingarihi. It is important to note that the two languages are incommensurable i.e. there can never be complete ‘translation’ between them – or between any tongues for that matter. No translation can ever hope to convey all the nuances and meanings of the original tongue, which are somehow meant to be relayed into another language. Ko te pahikahikatanga – which roughly translates as incommensurability, from Wittgenstein. I have written rather extensively on this issue. Here is a link to one such outing, eh –http://www.nzepc.auckland.ac.nz/kmko/14/ka_mate14_rapatahana.asp.