Hanau Ke Ali`i (Kamehameha Birth Chant) - Traditional

Hanau ke ali`i Kekuiapoiwa.
I nakolo ka lani.
I Welehu ka malama
I kulia i lalapa maloko Ainakea.
Kokohi ke maloko i laila
Hanau kalani nui mehameha
Ke ho`oeli o ke kapu.
Ke pulikoliko o ka kapu.
I naha maloko mai o Ainakea
I eweewe ali`i i lalapa
Maloko o Kekuiapoiwa
O ka Mano nui kapu lalakea
O ke ali`i o ka pali nui keikie
O Malu ka lani, he kaha na `Awini
E hi`i ana ia kalani nui mehameha
Me he hulu nene la ka haki manawa
O ka pali e ku nei
He uli huna Malu no Paiea
Kaha hulaana na Awini
I hoao ana me Keahialaka
Ke o o Paiea ali`i e o e


.
Kekuiapoiwa, the chiefess, gave birth
The heavens rumbled
Welehu (November) was the month
(Life) was kindled and blazed inside of Ainakea
The light was shaded there
The great chief Kamehameha was born
With the deepest kapu
The highest kapu
Breaking forth at Ainakea
Of a family of chiefs that blazed forth
From within Kekuiapoiwa
A great, sacred, white-finned shark
A chief of the great, tall cliff
Sheltered was the heavenly one at the land of Awini
There the great chief Kamehameha was borne in the arms
Like the feather of a goose
To the sheer cliff that stands there yet
A dark shady spot to hide Paiea
On the inaccessible cliff of Awini
That is wedded to Keahialaka
Answer to thy name chant, O chief Paiea


Source: Bishop Museum Archives, Translated by Mary Pûku`i