PELE’S BRIGADE IS SENT TO THE ATTACK OF LOHIAU
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Emerson, Nathaniel Bright
Ale noho ana Papa-lau-ahi;
O mai Pele i ona kino—
Hekikili ka ua mai ka lani;
Nei ke ola’i; ha ka pohakahi a ka Ikuwá;
Ku mai Puna ki’eki’e;
Ha’aha’a ka ulu a ka opua,
Pua ehu mai la uka o Ke-ahi-a-Laka;
Pau mahana i kahi Wai-welawela40 o ka Lua, e;
Iki’ki i ka uwahi lehua;
Paku’i ka uwahi Kanáka.
Pua’i hanu, eä ole i ke po’i a ke ahi.
E Hiiaka e, i wai maka e uwé mai!
TRANSLATION
The stars are on fire, and the moon;
Cold winter is turned to hot summer;
The island is girdled with storm;
The land is scoured and swept barren;
The heavens sag low—high surf in the Pit—
There’s toss of a stormy ocean,
Wild surging in Kilauea;
Fire-billows cover the rocky plain,
For Pele erupts her very self.
A flood of rain follows lightning-bolt;
Earth quakes with groaning and tossing,
Answered with shouts from the Echo god.
Once Puna was lifted to heaven;
Now the cloud of dark omen hangs low.
White bellies the cloud over Laka’s hearth;
Wai-wela-wela supplies a warm skirt.
I choke in this smoke of lehua—
How pungent the smell of burnt man!
I strangle, my breath is cut off—
Ugh! what a stifling blanket of fire!
Your tears, Hiiaka, your tears!
Source notes
1Awa. The full expression would probably be ua awa, bitter rain, i.e., bad weather. ↑
2Halelo, rough, jagged like aa. The following quotation is given:
Ku ke a, ka halelo o Kaupo,
I ho’okipa i ka hale o ka lauwili:
E-lau-wili. He lau-wili ka makani, he Kaua-ula.
TRANSLATION