Honesakala - by Thomas Lindsay

 

Ho`oheno keia no ka honesakala
Ke `ala mua ho`i a`u i honi ai
Ho`opua `ia ma ku`u pu`uwai
Me kahi poke a kaua i kui ai
 
Hui:
`Ike au i ka `ono o ka wai `o ia pua
`Upu a`e ka mana`o e ki`i hou e `ako
`A`ohe kani leo na manu `Ola`a
Ua la`ahia au e ka kuhihewa

Ua waiho iho au i kahi lei ua mae
I ho`ailona nou e `ike iho ai
He `u`a keia ua hiki mai nei
Ke ahu mai nei ka meheu hele hewa

`A`ole no ku'u `ike `ana i ka nani
Wau a`e kaena wale a`e ai
He maka`u nui ko`u pulu i ka ua
O`elo`elo ho`i a loa`a i ke anu
This is a love song for the honeysuckle
Whose fragrance I first smelled
Held fast (our love) within my heart
With the flowers we strung together
 
Chorus:
I tasted the honey within the flower
And thought to pick some more
But the birds of 'Ola'a no longer sing
For I found myself mistaken
 
I left my lei already wilted
As a token for you to see
A worthless person had already come
The signs of the mischief maker lie all about

It isn't because of the beauty I saw
That I make idle boasts
But I was afraid of being wet in the rain
And the drenching will give me a cold


Source:
Clyde Kindey Sproat - Translated by Mary Puku'i - Composer Thomas Lindsey, a young Waimea cowboy from Parker Ranch, was in love with a lady from Kohala.  He rode through Kawaihae uka where stonewalls along the way were laden with honeysuckle. He fashioned leis and bouquets of honeysuckle whenever he visited her. Parker Ranch selected him to go for higher education on the mainland; so he went to visit his lady with the usual leis.  While there, he proposed to her and she accepted. Upon his return, after two years, he saddled up and hastily rode down with his leis for her. Arriving at her home, he saw a dried lei and someone's boots where his ought to be.  Leaving his lei of honeysuckle at her doorstep, he rode away for the last time.  Not long after this song was published, Lindsey, while working the cattle up on Hualalai, was thrown from his horse and died of head injuries sustained in the accident. He was 23 years old.