‘This poem expresses the self-discovery which I owe to Ngati Raukawa, the Tangata Whenua of Otaki. It tells of my joy at the fruits, nga hua nui, of becoming bicultural. Then it uses my bicultural identity as a springboard to leap towards a better understanding of what it is to be human.'

ko te moana tokerau räua ko te moana-nui-ä-kiwa ngä moana
ko ngäti piritene nui ngä tipuna – he hunga kaumoana mäia
ko ngä kaipuke teremoana e ono ngä waka
ko aotearoa te whenua

ko papatöwai ki te taitonga o te wai pounamu te turangawaewae
ko te hunga ä mäori räua kö te hunga päkehä ngä whanaunga
ko te reo ingarihi räua kö te reo mäori ngä reo rangatira
kua rongo noa iho koe i taku pepeha taketake
whai ake nei taku pepeha whiriwhiria
ko everest te maunga
ko ngä tai katoa e taiawhio ana i te ao te moana
ko te aitanga katoa a ärama raua ko iwa ngä whanaunga
ko ngä kupu waha me ngä kupu tuhituhinga hoki ngä reo
ko ngä toi me ngä pakiwaitara katoa o te ao ngä taonga tuku iho
ko ngä whakaaronui o nehe ra te mätauranga
ko ngä tamariki a tane-mahuta ngä taonga kua murua

ko te aroha me te mamae o ngä manomano tau ä tätou ngoi ngakau
ko ngä toto maringi katoa huri noa i te ao ö tätou toto ora
kia tupato! kei wareware tätou i ö tätou whanaungatanga
ki ngä uri tängata katoa

ko enei aku pepeha e rua arä ngä waewae e tautoko ana i taku wairua

statement of identity for the year 2000

the north sea and the pacific ocean are my oceans
the people of great britain are my ancestors – a people of brave voyagers
six ocean-going sailing ships are my canoes
aotearoa is my country
papatowai in the south of the south island is my home turf
my relations include people both mäori and päkehä
the mäori and english languages are my noble languages
you have just heard my identity of origin
my chosen identity follows

everest is my mountain
all the seas encircling the world are my ocean
all the descendants of adam and eve are my relatives.
oral and written words alike comprise my languages
all the arts and stories of the world are my inheritance
the great thoughts of old are my wisdom
the children of tane-mahuta are my plundered treasures

the love and pain of the ages are the life and strength of all our hearts
all the blood spilt throughout the world is our arterial blood
beware! lest we forget our kinship to all humankind

these are my two identities – the feet supporting my spirit

Karen Peterson Butterworth

Published in Song of the Family by Steele Roberts, 2003.