The Story of Hawaii (Illustrated Edition). Fowke Gerard

¹⁴⁴

Ku'u po'e lehua iwaena konu o Mo-kau-lele;¹⁴⁵

      Me ka ha'i laau i pu-kaula hala'i i ka ua.

      Ke nana ia la e la'i i Hanakahi.

      Oni aku Hilo, oni ku'u kai lipo-lipo,

A Lele-iwi, ku'u kai ahu mimiki a ka Malua.¹⁴⁶

      Lei kahiko, lei nalu ka poai.

Nana Pu'u-eo¹⁴⁷ e! makai ka iwi-honua,¹⁴⁸ e!

      Puna-hoa la, ino, ku, ku wau a Wai-akea la.

      [Translation]

      STANZA 3

      (With distinct utterance)

      Kea-au shelters, Waiakea lies in the calm,

      The deep peace of King Hana-kahi.

      Hilo, of many diversions, swims in the ocean,

      'Tween Point Lele-iwi and Maka-hana-loa;

      And the village rests in the bowl,

      Its border surrounded with rain--

      Sharp from the sky the tooth of Hilo's rain.

      Trenched is the land, scooped out by the downpour--

      Tossed and like gnawing surf is Hilo's rain--

      Beach strewn with a tangle of thicket growth;

      A billowy freshet pours in Wailuku;

      Swoll'n is Wai-au, flooding the point Moku-pane;

      And red leaps the water of Anue-nue.

      A roar to heaven sends up Kolo-pule,

      Shaking like thunder, mist rising like smoke.

      The rain-cloud unfolds in the heavens;

      Dark grows Hilo, black with the rain.

      The skin of Hilo grows rough from the cold;

      The storm-cloud hangs low o'er the land.

      A rampart stand the woods of Haili;

      Ohi'as thick-set must be brushed aside,

      To tear one's way, like a covey of fowl,

      In the wilds of Pa-ie-ie--

      Lehua growths mine--heart of Mokau-lele.

      A breaking, a weaving of boughs, to shield from rain;

      A look enraptured on Hana-kahi,

      Sees Hilo astir, the blue ocean tossing

      Wind-thrown-spray--dear sea--'gainst Point Lele-iwi--

      A time-worn foam-wreath to encircle its brow.

      Look, Pu'u-eo! guard 'gainst the earth-rib!

      It's Puna-hoa reef; halt!

      At Waiakea halt!

      PAUKU 4

      (Ai-ha'a)

      Kua loloa Kea-au i ka nahele;

      Hala kua hulu-hulu Pana-ewa i ka laau;

      Inoino ka maha o ka ohia o La'a.

      Ua ku kepakepa ka maha o ka lehua;

      Ua po-po'o-hina i ka wela a ke Akua.

      Ua u-ahi Puna i ka oloka'a pohaku,

      I ka huna pa'a ia e ka wahine.

      Nanahu ahi ka papa o Olu-ea;

      Momoku ahi Puna hala i Apua;

      Ulu-á ka nahele me ka laau.

      Oloka'a kekahi ko'i e Papa-lau-ahi;

      I eli 'a kahi ko'i e Ku-lili-kaua.

      Kai-ahea a hala i Ka-li'u;

      A eu e, e ka La, ka malama-lama.

      O-na-naka ka piko o Hilo ua me ke one,

      I hull i uka la, i hulihia i kai;

      Ua wa-wahi 'a, ua na-ha-há,

      Ua he-hele-lei!

      [Translation]

      STANZA 4

      (Bombastic style)

      Ke'-au is a long strip of wildwood;

      Shag of pandanus mantles Pan'-ewa;

      Scraggy the branching of Laa's ohias;

      The lehua limbs at sixes and sevens--

      They are gray from the heat of the goddess.

      Puna smokes mid the bowling of rocks--

      Wood and rock the She-god heaps in confusion,

      The plain Oluea's one bed of live coals;

      Puna is strewn with fires clean to Apua,

      Thickets and tall trees a-blazing.

      Sweep on, oh fire-ax, thy flame-shooting flood!

      Smit by this ax is Ku-lili-kaua.

      It's a flood tide of lava clean to Kali'u,

      And the Sun, the light-giver, is conquered.

      The bones of wet Hilo rattle from drought;

      She turns for comfort to mountain, to sea,

      Fissured and broken, resolved into dust.

      This poem is taken from the story of Hiiaka. On her from the journey to fetch Lohiau she found that her sister Pele had treacherously ravaged with fire Puna, the district that contained her own dear woodlands. The description given in the poem is of the resulting desolation.

      PAUKA 5

No-luna ka Hale-kai¹⁴⁹ no ka ma'a-lewa,¹⁵⁰

Nana ka maka ia Moana-nui-ka-lehua.¹⁵¹

Noi au i ke Kai, e mali'o.¹⁵²

Ina ku a'e la he lehua¹⁵³ ilaila!

Hopoe-lehua¹⁵⁴ kiekie.

Maka'u ka lehua i ke kanáka,¹⁵⁵

      Lilo ilalo e hele ai, e-e,

      A ilalo hoi.

O Kea-au¹⁵⁶ ili-ili nehe ke kai,

Hoo-lono¹⁵⁷ ke kai o Puna

      I ka ulu hala la, e-e,

      Kai-ko'o Puna.

Ia hooneenee ia pili mai¹⁵⁸ kaua, e ke hoa.

      Ke waiho e mai la oe ilaila.

      Ela