Ooe a owau
Ka i pu-kukú’i,
I ke anu, e.
He who would translate this love-lyric for the ear as well as for the mind finds himself handicapped by the limitations of our English speech—its scant supply of those orotund vowel sounds which flow forth with their full freight of breath in such words as a-ló-ha, pó-li, and á-nu-á-nu. These vocables belong to the very genius of the Hawaiian tongue.
[Translation.]
Cold Breast
1.
Love fain compels to greet thee,
Breast so cold, so cold.
Chilled, benumbed am I