Toad Song - Words & music by Puakea Nogelmeier

He kani kapalili i ka pōuliuli
...o ke mele aloha a Poloka
E konikoni ana ke kiʻowai
...lepo me ka leo heahea i ka ipo
ʻO ka hoku ʻimoʻimo o ka lani lipolipo
...ke kukui e hōʻike mai nei
He manaʻolana kona i ka hoʻoniponipo
...me ka ipo hoʻohenoheno ana


Ua ʻoliʻoli ʻo ia a ka pā ʻoluʻolu
...o ke kilikilihune o ka ua
I hoʻolalilali i ka ʻili puʻupuʻu
.. ma ke kua ʻomaʻomaʻo ona
He kakali wale kona i ka loheʻia aku
...o kana mele o ke aumoe
A ʻumeʻume ʻia kahi hoa kikikoʻele
...e ka leo mikololohua


Mai kinohi loa mai a i kēia pō
...ua lohe mau ʻia kana mele
Ma na kiʻowai lepo o na ʻāina like
...ʻole a hiki ʻauaneʻi i ʻaneʻi
Ma waho iki aku o ka lumi moe oʻu
...i ke kulukulu o ke aumoe
Haʻina ka puana no ka maka puʻupuʻu
...i pili hala ʻole ke aloha



A sound of wobble bobble in the glooming that's a looming
...it is the lovely crooning of the Bufo
A throbbing and a bobbing in the muddle of the puddle
...with a voice of invitation to the ipo
The winking and the blinking of a star up afar,
...is the light by which one might be seeing.
He's a foggin' in his noggin to be squeezin'
...and a teasin' with the one true love of his dreamin'.

He's a happy, snappy fellow in the touch
oh so mellow, of the wisty misty falling of the showers
Thar bring a slime shine to the lumpy,
...bumpy kind of the dark green skin on his shoulders
He'll just wait for a date til his song of the late
...night hour find the ear of his beloved
And brought for his selection is a mate of sweet perfection
...who is drawn by the eloquence bestowed

From the very start of time to the evening of this rhyme
...his crooning always found a willing ear
In the muddy bogs and strand of so many different lands
...eventually arriving even here
Just there, close ouside of this room where I reside
...wide awake in the deepening of midnight
So let the tale be told of the lumpy, bumpy toad
...that has never failed to win his lovely birthright.




Source: Keʻalii Reichel "Pride of Punahele" CD