Kuʻu Lei ʻAwapuhi - Words & music by Emily Kekahaloa Namauʻu Taylor
ʻAuhea la ʻoe e ke aloha
ʻAwapuhi pala o ka ua noe
A eia no me au
I ka poli o ke aloha

Hui
E kuʻu aloha ē (e ō)
ʻAuhea la ʻoe (e ia no au)
A huli aku au ia ʻoe

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 Kuʻu Lei Pûpû, a tune the haku mele remembered from her childhood. The haku mele (composer), from Kāʻū, was a graduate of the Kamehameha Schools, class of 1915, a scholar, the Hawaiian columnist for the Honolulu Advertiser, and succeeded her husband, William Kaiheʻekai Taylor as the curator of the Royal Mausoleum, until 1961. Translated by Kanani Mana