Na hale Lehua[13] a ke kai, e-e!

TRANSLATION

Kua-mú pays toll to the forests—

Cloud-columns that veer and sway,

Freighted with rain for Hilo,

The Hilo of Hana-kahi.

The channels are full to the brim—

A tide that will flood ocean’s caverns,

The home of the mermaid Lehua.

After a moment’s pause she resumed, though in quite a different strain: