Volume 6 / Part 2 — Keawenuiaumi.1
Reading edition
Keawenuiaumi.1
The god of the evening twilight.
Who can question what the eye hath seen? It is understood;
Known by the ripened leaves of affection 5.
It is dead; withered is the flower of the mind.
That mind was changed,
Altered, transformed was the bloom of that flower.
There was another flower, a curling flower in the trimmed locks of hair;
Are being observed, [but] not by you.
You were of the contentious men,
Taking care of the loving friend in sorrow,
A concealed love, known secretly. 15.
They two were there
Creeping, scenting the fragrance in the rain,
The rain and the wind imparting life. 20.
The pandanus was brightened in the sea,
Don’t you assume my name, 25.
I am the only one living here,
Living as a sojourner only for a time, hopeful.
Kalana of Maui was the Kalana of Oa,
At the noise of heaven in the collected clouds, at the gathering of heavenly rain clouds, 30.
Swollen-eyed by the steady rain of heaven;
Important outlet, important as embracing ten water-courses;
A stone guarding the water on the cliff,
A path of the cliff region.
Shaking is the sacred heap of piercing bones,
In the very sacred and solitary place.
The covering kapa [is the] bark cloth of Mahi;
Mahi of Kekaeleuhiloliloliha,
Kalauhihilau, the powerful 50.
Kauauanuiamahi, who begat Kanekukapuaiku,
Kane and Alapai [were] fowls with a black bill,
In the firm kick [of] the spur in the careless observance of the kapu
To Kalani, Kalani, Kalani, 55.
Of the calm, still smoothness of Palaha;
Water-lying soul of Kaihikealaka,
You had not acquainted me before going
Filled with the desires of repentance and thought,
Desolate, without resting place, struggling for the clinging heart of man. 65.
Broken are the eye-divisions in weeping,
Ceaseless were the drowning tears.
Like a shaft of ie [vine] in the affection,
From the side of duty, emerges a different body.
You are perfect, you are faultless, 70.
For kindness and patience, lacking nothing,
Being fed by the winds;
The naulu, parent of the unulau 75.
Transferred mistakenly to Kealia.
Almost heedlessly I nearly lost that flower,
Water-refreshed flower of the twilight.
This is a day throbbing with love.
Just questioned there,
I discovered it, set aside, lying alone.
The kapu set apart by Umi for Keawenuiaumi,
[He] dwelt with Kaumaka in the presence of the fish,
The chief’s descendant? 90.
His was the warrior ancestor, Kekoa.
The Kekoa of Ohiaikulani,
In the height of the heavens.
Kalaninuieeumoku, two,
On whom you proclaimed the ordinance, 100.
Joining fast the chiefs together.
The united chiefs since ancient time
The fallen snow is the covering producing cold, 105.
Chilliness, dampness and numbness.
The bright sun that warms the earth
Is the fierce burning heat of summer,
Warming and hiding in the shade,
Shady, but not shading the chief 110.
The scattering, pelting rain;
Heavy rain showers, pelting rains standing in pools;
Pools standing toward Kukapu,
[From] Kukapu to Kauaua. 115.
Look towards Makuikumoho,
The surf in the deep sea,
The heavy surfs forming and breaking.
Running to reach outside
Exposure spread to the branch of chiefs.
The leaf in Maui, of the sacred swelling bud was nothing,
Umikalakaua stood for increase.
His twin children were 125.
Kauwau and Kiha,
They were twin aimoku chiefs of Maui,
Gathering tribute of the district of Kaakaniau.
But, considering their [manner of] living,
The children dwelling together. 130.
Kalaniulukaihonua of Kiha,
Quiet was its birth.
Paukai of Kiha was quiet also.
Born comfortable was the offspring of the chiefs, 135.
Not disobedient, loose or snappish,
The head shaping of the chief.
The wild duck stream of spring source
Kamapu water-fall pervading sound, 140.
[Like] the sound of Waahia’s broken voice,
A distinctive descendant of Haka
Is Kahaka, dwelling at Ewa here.
A tumultuous noise will follow,
You are going astray, going on, 145.
Going smoothly to outward appearance,
Concealing inwardly the shafts of mischief;
Covering small crookedness of the dreams.
The things he heard of in the open
Not being finished he continued his teasings,
To do and assist the wrong
Is the fault of these little trickeries.
[If] you are mischievous show up clearly what is right.
It is proper for the man to be domesticated; 155.
If well-treated he is generous and wasteful.
That spreads out and unfolds at mid-day,
Reddened by the sun of the luehu. 160.
The eyes are opened by the scoria
In the path leading above Auahi.
Cruelty was spreading in the evening.
The forgetfulness of the loved one, a companion, 165.
[Like] a goose companion, a bearer of filth,
Defiling and polluting the house.
You are an inheritance seeker, which is a fault, a crookedness;
Who changed largely [the] course to Kukona, 170.
To Luanuu, to Laa and perhaps Kamilo.
He was of the chief line of Piilani;
Ascending at the moving of chiefs,
At the moving for the true chief, 175.
Chief Kuwalukapaukumoku,
Hopumaihakuwalu Kailiiliniho,
Kailiiliniho was of Kuwalu,
Through him the drum was beaten,
Beaten, beaten were the drums. 180.
At the temple of human sacrifice of
Of the rain shower, of the adjoining long house,
Drawing the lands together.
He drew the reef of fish desertion, 185.
That sea-shore was useless
To the island fisherman, the chief
Of the great boxing contest assembly, shielded
Receiving the [arm] cut and catching the elbow
The champion of the land fell.
During the contest the people were excited,
The sand was furrowed and became a heap.
Alapai of Kauwauwa 195.
Was the crooked [chief] of the land.
Kaulunai, Kekahua,
Kekikonihoalani, Kaiekupaiaina,
Echoing the sharp sounds of the severed rock,
Raised rock, pebbled to freshness, 200.
A sharp piercing bone was the chief,
By the breaking mallet scattering the fragments,
The chips of the axe was the chief’s desire.
Kawainonohu the chief, and Kalaninuieeumoku,
Of crooked entanglement, the poisonous crab-coloring time, 205.
A variegated kapa at the cave
Disturbing and muddling the sea,
The bad fish with distorted eyes,
Of Namahana at the altar of the chief
Kaukapuikalani, of Awanakapu,
His was this child
Kapikikoloaukamahehalono,
He was perhaps Kalua at Hauola, 215.
Of the life-giving leaf offering lest Kolo be lonely,
The gradual development
Lest Kona be lonely,
The Kona with undesirable leaves.
O Kukona, whither art thou wandering angrily 220.
Over there, returning secretly through the grass?
Shameless! this trying to lose one’s self
[You] could not be hid; it was all seen
By those companions who passed away
With my spirit-children from below. 225.
I loved you, the companion of the singing bird,
You are a bird companion.
The man was a bird reared for the couch,
Nourished by the mind till domesticated.
Those undomesticated by him are companionless. 230.
Companion! a companion increasing the tax of the people.
Kamaile of the fire is ascending.
Wasteful of the wood should it leap forth.
Sounding to the point of Makua. 235.
The fire diminished, had disappeared,
Leaving solely in Keawanui for increase;
To increase and promote him,
Supposing perhaps he was honored.
The high chiefs gathered together;
Assembled together all ancestral chiefs,
The desire of the heart, the heir of Lono,
And Lonoapii indeed and Koohuki; 245.
Kaohuki indeed of Kalani,
Grey-haired, rose up those ignorant forefathers;
Brought up those fiery ancestors.
Being provoked [they] yearned and landed, rising up from there,
Piimauilani had numerous restrictions; 250.
Restored are the bones proclaiming Kanaloa
Cultivating difficult narrow plantings
Was the chief’s cultivation of the land.
Tightly drawn is the path of the sacred place.
He established the custom of the kapu, 255.
The royal sacred child who rules the land;
Supported and borne through the chiefs
Those [were] the chiefs of hope, 260.
Looking for the [welfare of the] land;
The land of their rightful chief.
Upright was the ruling by the honest chief;
He was an ancestral chief,
A man companionable with the people, 265.
Not a fat, unwieldy person of loose malo;
With short lock of uneven hair;
An uneven front hair caused by a doubtful mind.
The backbiting, reproaching, reviling food spurner, 270.
The stubby, unjust steward,
Treacherous and evil minded,
Envious toward the people of Kulana;
They were the subjects of the chief.
Appreciated is the earned eating and sleeping. 275.
Departeth the lazy man without master,
Driven forth by the rain of the winter.
Do not listen to him,
He has nothing, only rubbish. 280.
Here is the chief’s man,
Of the three chiefs of Kanaloa,
He was, he was of those there.
Examine and be satisfied [of] that pair, 285.
The pair was Kiha and Kama.
That was the source of the people,
He was, he was of those there,
They only had the ruler;
They possessed the reigning chief, 290.
Dwelling with affection toward you
O Kahailaulanaaiku, O Kaikulei,
Confused [is the] sacred salutation song in the night.
Buoyant, I was searching hopefully [but] could not find you.
You indeed, you are the one I dare compliment with love. 295.
You are not our third mate;
You had gone forth with love.
A strong desire only possessed me,
I am alone, young Kaulana.
Perhaps you are a younger brother 300.
Sent forth for some small thought?
To create pleasure as a companion:
A constant companion for your lonely place;
Yes lonely, lonely the solemn sacred days.
Almost in pity was the cry of the god, 305.
Pained was my eyes by the bushes,
The leaves [are] the flower buds of the wilderness;
The promise of growing fruit in the stony place.
People are going to the barren land,
It is a bad thing, leave it be; in kindness do we love.
And it is not.