Classic Poem

You are of a lineage of strong men without equal
who through their efforts seized and ruled by themselves
the expanses of the broad earth wholly encircled
by the roaring waters and so established their fame!
May the days of your life be myriad, expanding
by ones and by tens toward the sum of ten million!
Powerful king of wealthy Mutur where the walls
are finely made and lofty, threatening the sky,
and schools of scabbard fish in the deep moats
snap up the small kañci flowers that grow
at the surface of the water and there are tiny
sand eels, great murrels, lustrous ketiru fish!
If you wish to be rich in your next birth, if you wish
to break the strength in the arms of the kings
of this world and rule alone, O magnificence! if you
wish to establish fine and glowing renown, only hear
what now you rightly should do!
No bodies woven of their parts can subsist without water.
Those who give these bodies food give them life.
The body massed together of food has food as its source.
That which men call food comes from water mingled with earth.
Those who bring together earth and water in union create
the means for bodies to exist in this world, for life to be!
Large but barren fields where men sow and stare at the sky
in no way serve the efforts of the king who rules there.
And so, O Celiyan, murderous in battle! you should not
disdain my advice but rather you should act quickly!
Those who construct dams so that the water collects
on low ground in the fields are assured, in this world, of glory!
Those who build none will have no renown enduring in this world.