Volume 6 / Part 2 — Kamehameha.
Reading edition
The sun has risen far above Maunaloa,
The black cloud thundered upon the mountain.
The mountain tops of Kona stand sideways; ’tis calm,
Hilo stands swelling up in the rain.
Hamakua is a place of wooded ravines. 5.
Kohala is folded up in the winds.
Kauiki is drawn up till it touches heaven;
It has fled to the mat of Hina.
A sleep in pain is a mourning sleep.
Mokulaina hears far off in the sea. 10.
It cleared away and was calm.
Hana flew and hid herself from the wind;
A brook belongs to Lanakila;
A watery mountain belongs to Kualihau.
The back and the breast shivers from the snow, 15.
Contracted with the cold.
The desire moves in an irregular course,
Moving this and that way as if in a nightmare,
Breathing hard with fear.
The dry season consumes the water of the path, 20.
The bewildering path of the wilderness,
The hinale that is overgrown with akolea.
Lea was discovered, living on the mountain,
The mountain feared without cause.
In friendlessness the stones of Hanalei lie not together. 25.
Hanalei is calling.
Unulau is inviting me to dine with him,
[To eat] the leaf-wrapped fish of Kau
Wrapped in the leaves, yes, in the leaves.
I am provoking Milohae; 30.
Milohae is barking at Miloonohi,
The low-spreading, thrifty milo at Kikoamoanauli.
Thriving, thriving, thriving is the noni leaf,
Manoni as it grows is fragrant:
Its fragrance reaches the shoulder of the precipice of Kalalau. 35.
The precipice of Makana is two-fold;
’Tis a gift; ’twas my sleeping place last night;
’Tis the drunkenness of the awa for my god.
Drink the ripened leaved awa,
The awa bundle of the chief; 40.
The awa for the aged to masticate.
The awa grows thrifty in the uplands of Puna.
Puna’s upper regions are bitter with awa.
When I drink it, ’tis awa in bitterness;
It comes here, it comes there, it comes slowly, 45.
In thick, dense clouds to the god Puakau.
Will the goddess rob?
The mountain rises and crumbles off;
Kilohana, the mountain, stands up of itself
As a gift for the cold snow. 50.
The soft fleecy clouds appear and disappear.
Turn to the back, the names have not joined;
Poliahu and Waialeale are floating about.
Beautiful is Kahelekuakane.
Measure the long path to Maunahina. 55.
Snow is upon Kalikua, a thick shade pervades Aipo,
The mountain top is obstructed for travel,
Snow is also upon Elekeninui,
With forest unequal on each side.
Excellent is the path along the precipice of Makana, 60.
The path to the precipice of Kaiwikui
The top of Pueokahei, while one remains on Kapua.
The avalanche is afraid of the precipice,
At Mahuokona is a precipice sweet-scented with naenae;
One can inhale the fragrance if he breathes at all. 65.
The sweet-scented product of Kakioe, the woman who braids the lauae
In the valley of Kikiopua, at Hoomalele.
The firebrands are flying down the steep precipice;
Kamaile belongs not to the place where the fire is projected.
Here are some light firebrands from the factories; 70.
The factories where the firebrands are prepared.
The fire shoots forth oscillating upwards as a shooting star
And falls on the precipice of Kaauhau.
Shall I return at the call;
At the call of Makua to Kalalau? 75.
Here is your companion, a stranger.
The fire has been kindled on the skin,
The kapued skin by consecration
Which will be overcome by the biting firebrand,
For the firebrand has a fire that burns the skin. 80.
Indeed the greater part of the skin was broken
By being bitten by the fire of the firebrand,
Let the descendant warrior live as a soldier of Waiolono,
Offering temple services night and day.
Conquering all that none may dispute. 85.
I am fondly remembered by Kekaha,
I shall breathe at Kilohana the fog that riseth
Like the head of this man.
I am thinking and hoping.
Kaula lies yonder; what is about to be done there? 90.
The water-gourd is his earnest call; give me water!
The zigzag course is the path,
Where I shall go sprightly to work
To wreathe the lehua [blossoms] of Luluupali,
Also the pandanus of Mahamoku by the sea-shore. 95.
That I and my god may garland it;
[My god] Kekoalaulii, the silver-grey leaf,
Thine is the skin of Kinaiahi.