1
Ha'a
A million fish!
Quick flashes in salt water
That dance as fast as my hands pounce
Dancing to grab them.
Ha'a , the bent-knee dance
Naked at full noon on the beach.
Ah, low down and close
Near the water.
And the fish got away.
Clear out of my hands, danced away,
The catch got away-gone-
The catch danced away.
2 Mano
You're a cold eyed little fish, Mano,
Nudging me with your lazy kisses,
But we're swimming in deep water now,
And you're sliding in and out of the weeds of
the sea
So smooth and speedy. God, you're big!
You're a shark! I'm done for.
3 Aloha Kona
I loved the glimmering fish I caught
In the sultry night
At home in Kona
That sheathed us both in the glimmering.
The nights are chilly now, my lover gone.
That was the first time.
We had never done that before.
I loved it,
His love, sheathed in the peace of Kona,
Glimmering.
4 Honokohau
Hard rain stings Honokohau
And sorrow's wind rises
That breaks off and scatters the awa leaves
Over Honolua harbor
And where the leaves fall
From that swelling sorrow,
They gentle the sea water.
Then she goes down to the edge of the beach
To dig out opihi shells with her strong fingers,
And to rub her palms over the hairy sea moss,
And to clasp her man, to scratch his back with
her nails
To mark him her own at the edge of that serene
sea-
The girl who was hurt by the handless suffering
of love.
And she is dead now, that girl.
(20)