Hau‘oli Lā Hānau Mama

Nou e Kalāhikiola

As we walked along the hillsides of Lanikepu today, I recalled the song I wrote for you for your 50th birthday exactly 10 years ago today. I sang it to myself as I watched you smile to the sky.

Hohola ke kapa pūnoni i Lanikepu

Pu‘u kaumaha‘o kau i ka lewa nu‘u

I remember thinking about the way you stand unshakable in the wind and rain on that pu‘u. I thought about all the ways you feel like this land and this land feels like you.

Ua nū hele ka ua koko ma Waikōloa

Koloa ana i ka lauoha i Kohākohau

I can still hear our laughter at the kai of Anaeho‘omalu, the shores of my childhood, yours, and Grandpas. You wear the sea spray on your skin and the fresh waters of our four rivers in your heart. So now when I long for those very shores that we can no longer camp by, I come home to be close to you.

‘A‘ole pau ku‘u hia i ka ‘ikena iā ‘oe

Ku‘u lei kapu i hi‘ipoi ‘ia e Hoapili

I looked over at Kapulei today as she gave ho’okupu to the land and I felt so thankful to you, Mom, for raising us in the ways of our kūpuna.

Pili hemo ‘ole i ka malu ‘o Ke‘alalaua‘e

A‘ea‘e mōhala i luna o ka lehua ‘ula

I know in my soul that Great Grandma Mabel is so proud of the woman you are and the leader you have become for our ‘Ohana and our lāhui.

Ha‘ina ka puana nou e Kalāhikiola

E ola mau loa a kau i ka puaaneane

You are the very essense of the mountains and hills we come from in motion. When I wrote these last lines of your song, I thought of how grateful I am to have been born in this life time as your daughter. It is my prayer that you live in joy, a kau i ka puaaneane.

I love you, Mom

Hau‘oli Lā Hānau