The Waʻa Song

My kūpuna sailed Oceania, with plants on the waʻa Knowing they'd be planted in the lepo, loʻi, māla They seen the hoʻāilona, they had the information ʻOlena was used to fight off inflammation What does love look like? Think of the ʻulu tree Kū gave his life to feed his family The moena we slept on was made from lauhala The wauke we mālama(d) was used to make kapa Why is kalo always synonymous with us kānaka? Because Hāloanaka(laukapalili) is our older brother The ʻāina rules everything around me He ʻuala ka ʻai hoʻōla, koke i ka wī Kanaloa and Kāne drank ʻawa everyday It can help with migraines and soothe your muscle pain The mana still remains though the tides of time change Thank the sun, thank the waves, thank the dirt and the rain From this lepo you were birthed to this lepo youʻll return This ʻāina holds our ʻiwi, this honua is our urn Mālama kou kino me kēia lāʻau o ka earth He waʻa, he moku cause you are the world What does love look like? Think of 40 foot waves And the 40 generations that brought you here today And the waʻa mea kanu that sustained them on the way We gotta remember their names though the tides of time changed These roots are the same and that’s what keeps us grounded When colonization feels like all that surrounds us Hoʻi i ka mana, hoʻi i ka piko Ke kūkulu nei wau me ka ʻoiaiʻo Because we are the people and protectors of this knowledge ʻIke kūpuna defies settler logic Kō, kī, mamaki for the tea When we can heal ourselves only then can we be free Forget about what you heard from that kiddie cartoon Moana I'm bout that OG, Original Goddess Kanaka celestial mama Before there was a voyage, before there even was a wa'a There was Haumea and her all encompassing mana Genealogy weaver, the seer of wānana Placed the way up in the stars so navigators could go where they wanna Ka Hei a Haumea , starlight web up there Said wahine no can navigate? Bradda peel back the layers Haumea gave birth to our Pelehonuamea Who sailed from Kahiki to her home in Kīlauea Hina gave us that DNA to guide wahine to the sea Hina is the matriarch to spark our haplotype B And for those who saying Wahine ain't been holowaʻa What would the voyage be without the stars that Haumea did plot? What does love look like? ‘Auamo kuleana Like Kala Tanaka guides Hōkūle’a through the water There’s a scene that I’ve seen every time I dream Islands perpetually tropical and green Mountains to the sky valleys of eternal streams Volcanoes alive, spewing molten lava rock and steam Honua equals land and kanaka, we human being Put ‘em together becomes ʻāina when they teamed A formula would work for any place race or time We can orally trace mankind’s evolution from slime What does love look like? A standing army Frontline warriors supported by family Kū is war Lono, diplomacy Kane, the freshwater Kanaloa, ka moana nui Ahupuaʻa, loko iʻa, ʻauwai, loʻi Makaʻāinana, kauā, kahuna, aliʻi Highly adaptive people with ingenuity Made our ʻāina kulāiwi home, Hawaiʻi ʻO Kanaloa ke kai hohonu lā ʻO Kāne ka wai kapu me ka ʻohe lā ʻO Kū ka ulu me ka niu lā ʻO Lono ka ipu me ka makani lā ʻO Haumea ke kino papalehu lā ʻO Hina ka malama me ke koʻa lā ʻO Kihawahine e hoʻomana lā ʻO Pele ke ahi e holomua lā