Mahele Iv

Hole Waimea i ka ihe a ka makani, Hao mai na ale a ke Ki-pu’u-pu’u; He laau kala-ihi ia na ke anu, I o’o i ka nahele o Mahiki. Ku aku la oe i ka Malanai a ke Ki-puu-puu; Nolu ka maka o ka oha-wai o Uli; Niniau, eha ka pua o Koaie, Eha i ke anu ka nahele o Wai-ka-é, A he aloha, e! Aloha Wai-ká, ia’u me he ipo la; Me he ipo la ka maka lena o ke Koo-lau, Ka pua i ka nahele o Mahule-i-a, E lei hele i ke alo o Moo-lau. E lau ka huaka’i-hele i ka pali loa; Hele hihiu, puli noho i ka nahele. O ku’u noho wale iho no i kahua, e-e. A he aloha, e-e! O kou aloha ka i hiki mai i o’u nei. Mahea la ia i nalo iho nei?

This mele, Hole Waimea, is also sung in connection with the hula ipu.

The song above given, the translation of which is to follow, belongs to historic times, being ascribed to King Liholiho—Kamehameha II—who died in London July 13, 1824, on his visit to England. It attained great vogue and still holds its popularity with the Hawaiians. The reader will note the comparative effeminacy and sentimentality of the style and the frequent use of euphemisms and double-entendre. The double meaning in a Hawaiian mele will not always be evident to one whose acquaintance with the language is not intimate. To one who comes to it from excursions in Anglo-Saxon poetry, wandering through its “meadows trim with daisies pied,” the sly intent of the Hawaiian, even when pointed out, will, no doubt, seem an inconsequential thing and the demonstration of it an impertinence, if not a fiction to the imagination. Its euphemisms in reality have no baser intent than the euphuisms of Lyly, Ben Jonson, or Shakespeare.

[Translation.]

Song—Hole Waimea