HIIAKA DESCRIBES THE SCENE BEFORE HER
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Emerson, Nathaniel Bright
O ka’u wale iho la no ia, o ka leo, e!
TRANSLATION
Ka-ena Point flies on its way
Like a sea-bird in fair weather;
Like the wings of a swooping gull
Are the cliffs of Nene-le’a;
Like the lash of the bosen’s wings
Is the curl of the breaking wave
In the channel of Ië-ië.
The gray sand that borders the lava
Drinks the waves like a thirsting man;
And purple and pink and red
Are the eye-spots of the bazalt
That gleam in the sea of Ka-peku.
The sea gives a querulous tone—
The season is that of Ho-ilo.
A cloud-pall shadows the ocean,
Sure sign of a turbulent sea,
Of a tide that will deluge the land,
Like the Flood of Ka-hulu-manu.
The god-forms stand in due order,
Forms that are swollen to bursting,
The group on Kana-loa’s altar:—
Friends, allies, I reckon them all.
Cape-of-the-Woods entices us on,
Besprayed by the sea of Wawalu,
Forefront Unulau’s gullied cliffs.
I drink of the water distilled
By the dripping pali walls,
Led forth in a hollowed log.
The rustic denies it and hides it:
Four water-streams has Ka-ena;
And the summer sun is ardent.
The blocks of stone, like warriors,
Move in procession before me—
Pilgrims that march along the crest
Of the steep ridge Lei-honua.
Ah, a new joy now do I find:
It comes with the breath of this wind!
And what is my gift in return?