He kanaenae no Laka / A Prayer of Adulation to Laka
by Hawaiian (Anonymous)English version by Nathaniel B. Emerson
Original Language Hawaiian
A ke kua-hiwi, i ke kua-lone,
Ku ana o Laka i ka mauna:Noho ana o Laka i ke po'o o ka ohu.
O Laka kumu hula,
Nana i a'e ka wao-kele,
Kahi, kahi i moll'a i ka pua'a,
I ke po'o pua'a,
He pua'a hiwa na Kane.
He kane na Lake,
Na ha wahine i oni a kelakela i ka lani:
I kupu ke a'a i ke kumu,
I lau a puka ka mu'o,
K liko, ka ao i-luna.
Kupu ka iala, hua ma ka Hikina;
Kupu ka laau ona a Maka-li'i,
O Maka-lei, laau kaulana mai ka Po mai.
Mai ka Po mai ka olalo--
I ho-i'o i-luna, i o'o i-luna.
He luna au e ki'i mai nei ia oe, e Laka,
E ho'i ke ko-kua pa-u;
He la uniki no kaua;
Ha-ike-ike o ke Akua;
Hoike ka mana o ka Wahine,
O Laka, Haikuahine,
Wahine a Lono i ka ou-alii.
E Lono, e hu' ia mai ka lani me ka honua.
Nou okoa Kukulu o Kahiki.
Me ke ano-ai aloha, e!
E ola, e!
In the forests, on the ridges
Of the mountains stands Laka;
Dwelling in the source of the mists.
Laka, mistress of the hula,
Has climbed the wooded haunts of the gods,
Altars hallowed by the sacrificial swine,
The head of the boar, the black boar of Kane.
A partner he with Laka;
Woman, she by strife gained rank in heaven,
That the root may grow from the stem,
That the young shoot may put forth and leaf,
Pushing up the fresh enfolded bud,
The scion-thrust bud and fruit toward the East,
Like the tree that bewitches the winter fish,
Maka-lei, tree famed from the age of night.
Truth is the counsel of night--
May it fruit and ripen above.
A messenger I bring you, O Laka,
To the girding of pau.
An opening festa this for thee and mee;
To show the might of the god,
The power of the goddess,
Of Laka, the sister,
To Lono a wife in the heavenly courts.
O Lono, join heaven and earth!
Thine alone are the pillars of Kahiki.
Warm greeting, beloved one.
We hail thee!
 | -- from The Unwritten Literature of Hawaii: The Sacred Songs of the Hula, by Nathaniel B. Emerson |
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| The Unwritten Literature of Hawaii: The Sacred Songs of the Hula | ||||
