'O Kona along the unruffled sea

Each of the Hawaiian islands has their own uniqueness and sense of place. The Big Island of Hawai'i, where I lived for too short a time (and my heart is still there), has desert-like barrens, languid lagoons with stately palms swaying in the kona winds, rain-forests where non-rain periods are celebrated in their rarity, and snow-capped peaks of bitter cold.

One of the finest, and most lyrical, translators to English of the spoken Hawaiian language was Mary Kawena Pukui (1895-1986). She could take the meles (chants) and give them evocative and meaningful translations to English. She could translate the complex and multi-leveled Hawaiian spoken word and yet retain much of its charm and meaning; a complex task to be sure.

There is a mele, long recited from pre-contact days, that describes the six ancient districts of the Big Island (which is its modern appellation as in Hawaii Nei times each island was unique and the only "Hawai'i" was the what we call the Big Island today). This mele describes each of the six districts of Hawai'i (the singular island).

For brevity (it is a fairly long chant), here are the opening lines and the first district in both Hawaiian and English:

"He Huaka'i Ka'apuni ma Hawai'i

Ku e ho'opi'o ka la

Ka la i ke kula o Ahu- 'ena

Komo i ka la'i o Kai-lua e-

'O Kona:

'O Kona ia i ke kai malino

Ke hele la i waho o Kapu-lau

Kani ka 'a'o Wai- 'ula'ula

A he alani ewaiho nei

A ke kanaka e hele ai la"

//

"The rising sun travels in an arc

reaches the flatlands of Ahu- 'ena

enters Kai-lua's gentle landscape

This is Kona:

coastal Kona along the unruffled sea

Where the sun rides ahead to Kapu-lau

where cry of the puffin-bird at Wai- 'ula'ula

breaks the silence of the traveler's trail."

There is much more in the mele and in reading it one can leisurely travel around the island and breathe the tropical air...regardless of where they currently are.