Ho’olu’e iho la i ke kai;
Kina’i aku la ka eha, e.
TRANSLATION
In Puna’s famed thickets of hala
One’s body is torn—a network of marks.
Climbing the walls of Na-pali, the scent
Of lau-a’e pelts the sense; then fall
The petals sweet, to drown their pain
In the ocean that rages below.
The kilu spins on its way—it must hit—no, fate is too strong for it and turns it from the mark. Lohiau’s song is an admission of painful discomfiture: