Aloha to all the places my child stayed

This is part of a longer article written in the Hawaiian language newspapers by Mrs. Emma K. Fern, my great-great grandmother.  Her daughter Emma Lahela, was shot and killed by her 3rd husband Lui Hookano.  This article was translated by a friend of a descendent of Lui Hookano.  This snippet deals with all the places Emma Lahela stayed in her life....



My daughter was born at Kapaia Kauai, December 4, 1895, and died on March 4, 1924, a full thirty years and three months...

Oh Kaua'i, you will never agian see Emma, never again see her in your surging waves.
Alas, my child loved traveling to this place.

Oh Maunalua, perhaps you have seen my child Emma, going to the uplands of Kamilokapu, the beloved place my child stayed with my first-born, Mr. G. Kalauohe who had first come here.

Oh esteemed Kawaihoa, you will never again see Emma, at the water's edge of Maunalua, and likewise you, Kuli'ou'ou, will never again see her traveling to the water's edge of my beloved birthplace.

Here is her mama crying at the place my child stayed with my older sisters and their husbands, Mr. and Mrs. Makea Paao and Mr. and Mrs. Mahinalau.

Wailupe, where she went to search for wisdom, aloha to the place my child lived in Wailau, where we all stayed in the cool swaying of the wind of the Ko'olau.  There she grasped the hand of the man, not knowing the one she loved was evil in body and pondering acts that shortened her days of living and breathing.

Aloha to the Kanilehua rain of Hilo, you will never again see my darling.  You will never agian soak the beloved cheeks of my child.

Aloha to the home of her in-laws at Pahala, Kau, the place my daughter lived with her beloved husband Joseph Kawaha, who has already left this life.  Aloha to the place my child lived for a long time with her in-laws Mr and Mrs. J. L. K. Kawaha, of Kau, Pahala, a home that welcomed tourists arriving there, a comfortable place to stay for parents caring for children.

Aloha to the place my child stayed upland of Olaa, with her cousins Mr and Mrs. C. Warren.  And likewise Keaukaha, a place my child stayed with my cousins.  It is finished, she has vanished from our eyes...



Remember those places of the song verse:

Hewn down by the sea are the pandanus trees of Puna.
They are standing there like men.
Like a multitude in the lowlands of Hilo.
Step by step the sea rises above the Isle-of-life.
So life revives once more within me, for love of you.
Alas, my child!

Aloha to the low hanging breadfruit of Kalapana.
The cold sun that rises at Kumukahi.
The love of my child is indeed above all else.
The one that is most beloved.

The lehua blossoms were braided with the maile of Panaewa.
Unjustly, the face of the woman has passed on.
For our love for one another was all we had.
The rain only fell at Leleiwi,
As it came creeping over the hala trees at Pahoa.
Alas my child!

Aloha to the places my child lived.
My child from the leaping cliffs of Piikea,
From the waters of Wailuku where the people carried under.
Which we had to go through to get to the many cliffs of Hilo.
Those solemn cliffs that are bare of people.

Aloha to the places my child went.  Our time to see her again is ended, and likewise
Mooeheau park, a place my child stayed to look at the amusements of that place.
Alas my grief!

Aloha to the sea of Alenuihaha and Pailolo, you will never again drench the body of my child, the last time to see her in your surging billows of beloved Hawaii has passed.

Aloha my daughter, never to see her again.
Ko'olau is made hot by the storm of love.
A native land where she dwells.
Partly pecked by the birds.
By it's speechless messenger, the storm
Alas, my grief is endless.

Aloha to Kelii Puhihale, the home where my child lived, and her older sisters and younger brothers and sisters, and me together with her mother and my brother where she first left me.  Oh Kealohi, you will never again see Emma Lahela Kaakau running at the water's edge, aloha to you, Kealohi.

Alas my love, and for her perhaps, the places woven into these song verses:
Enjoying the Kaniko'o rain of He'eia,
That raind that makes the awa leaves of Moelana glitter.
Fragrant the grasses of Ahulimanu
Bind with the finger deft as the Waikaloa wind
Waikaloa, the wind that cools the air of my child.
Aloha to all the places my child stayed.

Likewise you, Kaneohe, famous at the center of the Ko'olau, you will never again see my child, alas the pain remembering the things done upon the body of my child.

Aloha to the zigzag roads of Nu'uanu, the place my child drove to town and to Waipuhia and Waipuilani, you will never see her agian.

Kukalahale rain, you perhaps saw my child Emma as she passed the mountain ridges,
Kuahine rain of Manoa, she is gone, vanished.

Kewalo, you perhaps saw my child Emma, you were familiare with her, and you Kalia,
she has left me to weep my alohas, never to see her again, the beloved places my
child stayed with her beloved ones abandoned already, the place she lived first and
had four children and one dead leaving three, and lived again with her second
husband had three children, and the second husband dead,
and then this husband returns one child, the baby, and my child secure into my hands
beaten by Lui Ho'okano, the one not known as a loving person.

My child has left her friends and children namely my seven grandchildren, beloved
children of my child.

Kaimuki, perhaps you are puzzled Emma does not return to see the home of her mama, Mrs. Emma K. Fern, you will never again see your child.

Lililehua rain of Palolo, you will never again dampen the cheeks of my beloved one, my
daughter Emma Lahela Kaakau, alas my child, you have vanished from my eyes.

Kaneohe



  • Kalia.  Road, Wai-kiki, Honolulu; stream, Wai-he'e, O'ahu.  Lit., waited for.
  • Ka-paia.  Village, strea, and reservoir, Lihue district, Kauai.  Street, Hawaii-kai, Honolulu.  Lit., the walls or bowers.
  • Kawaihoa. Pont, Ni'ihau.  Point beyond Porlock Road, Honolulu; the god Kane brought forth water here (HM 64).  Lit., the companion's water.
  • Kuahine.  Drive, Manoa, Honolulu, named for a Manoa rain brought by a "sister." (TM.)  Lit., sister of a male.
  • Kuapa.  Old name for Mauna-lua fishpond east of Honolulu, partly filled in for Hawaii-kai subdivision; the remnants of the pond are now a marina.  It was once believed that the pond was partly constructed by Menehune and was connected by a tunnel to Ka-elepulu pond, Kai-lua, Oahu.  Lit., fishpond wall.
  • Maunalua. Section of Honolulu now known as Hawaii-kai; bay also known as Wai-alae Bay, forest reserve, and beach park, Koko Head qd., Oahu (ik 94.)  See Kuapa.  Lit., two mountains.
  • Mo'oheau. Park, Hilo waterfront, Hawaii, named for Chief Ka-'ai'awa'awa-i-Mo'oheau (the bitter food of Mo'oheau), the son of Ho'olulu, who is said to have hidden Ka-mehameha's bones.  Avenue.  Kapahulu section, Honolulu, named by Auhea Crowningburg, through whose land the street ran, for Chief Mo'oheau, an ancestor.  (TM.)
  • Pi'i-kea.  Gulch, Puna, Hawaii.  (For. Sel. 278)  One of 'Umi-a-liloa's wives, a chiefess of Maui, had this name.  Street and place, Foster Village, subdivision, Halawa, Wai-pahu qd., Honolulu.  Name suggested by mary Kawena Pukui in 1958.  Lit., to become light (as the day).
  • Wai-lau.  Land section, Honu-apo and Pahala qds., Hawaii.  Valley, Wai-mea district, Kauai.  Valley, land division, trail, former village, and stream, Ka-malo qd., north Molokai.  In Ka Nupepa Kuokoa of August 2, 1912, are listed many place names along the trail from Pu-ko'o, Molokai, up over the mountain and down to the bottom of Wai-lau Valley.  Lit., many waters.
  • Waipuhia.  Upside Down Falls, Nuuanu Valley, Oahu.  Lit., blown water.
  • Waipuilani.  Gulch, Pu'u-o-kali qd., Maui. Lit., waterspout.

Comments

  1. I would like to present you with A Lovely Blog Award. Please go to my blog and pick it up: http://ancestorslivehere.blogspot.com/2011/03/another-lovely-blog-award.html

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  2. Our g-g grandmother Emma Fern gave us so much information in this article, and insight into my great-grandmother, Emma Lahela's life. My Grandmother never spoke to us about her mother, who died when she was 10. I wouldn't know anything about her if it hadn't been for this article :) Thanks for getting this translated and for tying in the place references so beautifully!!

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