[Translation.]
A plover at the full of the sea—
What, pray, is it saying to me?
It keeps bobbing its noddy.
To do what would you counsel?
Why, eat its plump body!
Whence comes the sweet morsel?
From the land of Kahiki.
When our sovereign appears,
Hawaii gathers for play,
Stumble-blocks cleared from the way—
Fit rule of the king’s highway.
Let each one embrace then his love;
For me, I’ll keep to my dove.
Hark now, the signal for bed!
Attentive then to love’s tread,
While a wee bird sings in the soul,
My love comes to me heart-whole—
Then quaff the waters of bliss.
Say what is the key to all this?
The plover egg’s laid in Kahiki.
Your love, when it comes, finds me dumb.
The plover—kolea—is a wayfarer in Hawaii; its nest-home is in distant lands, Kahiki. The Hawaiian poet finds in all this something that reminds him of the spirit of love.