At the very beginning of all things, at the making, there was a word, and that word was the making. It has echoed through eternity, across the vast reaches of space and time, and it will echo ever more, until the end of all things and the making renewed. It will outlast us all, for it is us, and we are it, yet it will endure and we shall not. This is its story.
On the morning, as the sun rose for the very first, it warmed the ground and the air began to move. The air, that had until this time been still, felt the life within and it smiled to know that it could now move. So it did. It travelled across the land, rushing through the tree tops, moving bough, branch, and leaf, it raced across the plains of grass and of sand, it rose up and up over the mighty peaks of mountains, and it plunged down into valleys. Joyous was the air that was now the wind, and it exalted in its new found freedom. As it raced across the oceans, ripples become waves that became great swells and they heard the wind cry out to them, "Aroha!"
At the edge of the shore, where land and sea meet in their eternal duel, the swell washed and became waves that plundered the beaches, and smashed themselves hard against the rocks. Great plumes of spray flew up high, catching the rays of sun, turning into droplets of gold, only to fall like rain, and to begin the cycle over again. The water that had been flat and calm until the wind had begun to blow now rejoiced in its new found excitement and it raged on, pounding and throwing itself against the land. "Aroha!" it cried, "Aroha!" it roared, for aroha it was.
The mighty eagles rose up high on the currents of air that now flowed where before there had been none. Wings spread wide, they soared and glided, they gained height so that the trees of the forests below were nothing except a small green patch and soon faded from sight, so high that the peaks of the tallest mountains, coated in the glistening white that sparkled and dazzled like millions of tiny diamonds, were far below the reach of their powerful talons. As they soared on the air, stretching and arcing their wings, twisting, rising, and falling at will, the noise of the wind could be heard to whisper, "Ar-oh-a", and in response the eagles cried out "Aroha! Aroha!"
In the forests down below, the wind rushed and the trees swayed. "We are flexible", they said, "you cannot break us, you shall never break us", and they stood in defiance of the air that had become the wind. The wind only laughed for it knew that its power was unlimited, that one day it would have to blow harder and bring change, but until then, it was content to blow as it did that first day. The leaves of the branches rustled with the breeze as they swayed and moved, and danced this way and that. "Aroha, aroha, aroha!" the trees too were alive.
Under the dense green canopy of the trees, in those places where light found a way to break through, the deer sprang forth, the squirrels scampered up the trunks of the trees, and the wolves ran in mighty packs, barking and yelping in the fun of the day. In the fragile leap of the deer jumping clear across a stream, in the scurry of the squirrel along the branch of the tree, in the playful rough and tumble of the wolves, there could be heard the same words over and over and over. "Aroha! We are alive."
Under the surface of the ocean, giant schools of fish formed and moved in a swirling, colossal, dark mass as one. Dolphins exploded into the air, twisting and turning, squealing and whistling with the delight and the play, and to tell each other what they must. With power and grace came the sharks to watch the commotion, to beat their mighty fins, and slid through the water with grace and poise and all that saw them revelled in their beauty. From the depths of the oceans, huge beasts rose and broke the surface, rising clear, to suck in new air and life, to slap a fin and splash back down. The ocean was a heaving frenzy of life and in every slap, squeal and whistle, and movement of fin, the same word could be heard. "Aroha."
Sitting on a rock on the beach, a pair of eyes looked upon all that was good that day. With each beat of his heart, the boy heard the same word over and again, as he would for ever more, "Aroha", it said. The wind too heard the beating of that heart, so strong and true, and came to see for itself the boy on the rock to whom it belonged. The wind, that had now travelled around the world brought with it a scent from far off places, and it blew the scent over the boy. The boy looked up and smiled, he did not need to hear the words that the wind spoke to him, because his heart had already told him the story of how it was, how it is, and how it would be. The boy rose to his feet and took one last look out across the ocean. "Aroha. I am coming. Wait for me." He knew that she would always be waiting, like he, for the right time, the right place, and for the right moment in which they would again find the other. And when they did, the making would start anew, for the making would always begin and end with aroha, because that is all there has ever been and all there ever will be. It was true then, it is true now, and it will be true for ever more. Love.
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The Māori were the first people of New Zealand and aroha is their word for love. If you sit quietly, you can hear it whispered to you on the breeze, calling to your heart, telling you of your dreams, and of the path that is your own to walk.
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