Tags https://www.thetravelclub.org/tag/tonga Wed, 14 Jan 2026 12:42:21 +0100 Joomla! - Open Source Content Management en-gb Tonga: A Social Poem https://www.thetravelclub.org/articles/world-poetry/754-tonga-a-social-poem https://www.thetravelclub.org/articles/world-poetry/754-tonga-a-social-poem We sat chatting about Vavau Tua Lik;
Then the women spoke to us:
"Let's go look for Lik, to watch the sunset;
Let's listen to the birds chirp and the dove coo.
Let's pick flowers on the slope of Matato.
Let's take a swim in the sea and in fresh water
Of Wov Akasa, and let us smell the scented oil.
Let's knit wreaths and wrap our flowers
Which we picked at Matato."
We stand on the slope of Matato, motionless, staring down 
Where the deep sea is visible.
And as our soul floats, from the tall toa trees, from the plain of the interior
A strong wind is coming to us.
My soul expands as I watch the waves in the deep,
How foolishly they try to break through the solid rocks!
Oh, how lucky we are to be here instead of Mu!
It's evening - let's go to the village!
Hearing! The voices of the singer are heard.
Are they preparing to play, to celebrate the night at Tene's grave?
Let's go there!
But shouldn't we think about our earlier life,
When the war had not yet split our country ?!
Come on! War is something terrible!
See: The country is devastated and many people have been cruelly killed.
The chiefs were left without huts, no longer sneaking around,
To their mistresses, in the moonlight.
Enough thinking! It's just a wish! Our country is at war!
Fiji has invaded our country Tonga:
Now we have to make war.
Let's leave the sad thoughts; tomorrow we may be dead!
Let's dress Hikulu now, put her on Tapa's head,
We decorate our forehead with wreaths of Jiala,
We hang white Huns flowers around the door to highlight
Our skin dark from the sun.
Hear the people cry!
The dance ends, and they share the rite from our ceremony.
Let's go home tomorrow!
Men want us - they beg us to give them
Our wreaths of flowers;
Flattering us, telling us:
"Beautiful women from Lik,
Their skin is lovely with sunshine,
Their scent is like the flowerbed of Mataloko and Veihu.
I long to go to Lik: tomorrow, tomorrow, let's go there already!"

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Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is a Polynesian sovereign state and archipelago comprising 169 islands, of which 36 are inhabited.

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