Ku`u Lei Awapuhi - Words & music by Emily Kekahaloa Namau`u Taylor
Auhea la `oe e ke aloha
‘Awapuhi pala o ka ua noe
A eia no me au
I ka poli o ke aloha

Hui
E ku`u aloha e (e o)
`Auhea la `oe (e ia no au)
A huli aku au ia `oe

Where are you, my love
Like the ginger, covered in the misty rain
Here, I am with you
In love’s sweet embrace

Chorus:
I call, my beloved (answer)
Where are you (Here I am)
Return to me

Source: Hapa CD - Written in 1951 for the remake of the movie Bird of Paradise, this poem was set to the melody of Ku`u Lei Pûpû, a tune the haku mele remembered from her childhood. The haku mele (composer), from Kâ`û, was a graduate of the Kamehameha Schools, class of 1915, a scholar, the Hawaiian columnist for the Honolulu Advertiser, and succeeded her husband, William Kaihe`ekai Taylor as the curator of the Royal Mausoleum, until 1961. Translated by Kanani Mana