My Beloved Mother Has Passed
("Kuu Mama Aloha Ua Hala", Ka Puuhonua o na Hawaii, January 19, 1917)
My beloved mama, the only true mother who I loved, has passed on, leaving me and her family to cry in grief for her. My dear mother, unable to speak to me. My mother, ever mindful to give every little thing to me, her beloved child. Oh, mother!
How dear is my mother’s voice that would come to my home. Your voice calling from outside would rouse me from sleep, and now you are in slumber!
“O Kaleohemahema1, Kaleohawawa2,
Voice that does not know the language,
Signified in the gestures of the hands,
In the bowing of the head,
It is the name of your voice.”
Oh, my beloved mother. I cry for the places I went with my dear mama. What affection for the facing cliffs of Lele-ko-ea, where my mother lived, the slopes of Puupueo and Keahuaala, the fields of Hokona and the cliffs of Kalepa. Farewell.3
Beloved Naopuu, where my mother relaxed. “Kaupo rain that makes one hide behind rock walls,” have you seen my mother? “Love-Snatching Wind,”4 of the land, have you seen my mama? Bring her back so that I may see her again. What heavy sorrow for my mother. Famous hill of my beloved land, “Kauiki, extending, arising into the calmness like the breast of the noio bird soaring across the ocean,” is my mother with you here? What sorrow! O Apuakea rain that sprinkles out on the ocean, o rain that creeps around the cliffs of Kauiki, may the two of you return my beloved mother. What affection I feel for the voice of Mokuhano,5 calling as if in my mother’s voice, saying, “Here I am at Papaloa, at the base of Kauiki, at Lepahu Point, on Puukii islet, in Kaahumanu’s cave,6 in the hollow of Naholomahana, at Kalepaamoa Point, on the sands of Kapueokahi, in the chilly waters of Punahoa,7 on the rustling pebbles of Waikaloa, at Nanualele Point and in the waves of Keanini.8 I ask after my mother, but she is not here! I am filled with grief. What love I have for the waves at Puhele—where one can surf to the shoulder and return to the peak—9 and Kumaka bathing pool10, where my mother would dive in and rinse off. How beloved.
What cherished thoughts I have of Alau islet, that land in the sea spray, and Kaiwiopele Hill, Kaihuakala in the uplands and Kahaula11 along the shore, and my home of kukui leaves, where my mother sleeps alone. How dear is this home.
My home is cold. You have passed on, my dear mother whom I could never forget. You are leaving me and our family, the scores of us from the Kahikinui region all the way to the Koolau cliffs. I weep tears to your everlasting memory, mama. Because of the overwhelming grief in reflecting on you, I will leave off these elegiac strains and explain known biographical details of my mother.
My mother was born from the loins of father Makahawai and mother Laukiamano. They gave birth to Kakuhihewa, my dear mother. She lived for 104 years until returning to the earth as has been proclaimed, “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return,12 but the spirit shall return unto the one who made it,13 since He gave, and He hath taken away. Blessed be the name Jehovah.”14
Issuing from the loins of John Kaleo Kepoo, my father, and Kakuhihewa, my dear mother, came 10 children as the seeds of their garden. Five have passed on, and still living are five sons: E. K. Kaleo, Jas. H. S. Kaleo, J. K. K. Kaleo, J. M. Kaleo and J. P. Kaleo. My dear mother ceased breathing in the presence of her three sons who are living in Hana, Maui, while I and the youngest are here on Kakuhihewa’s island.15
At peace, before she passed she expressed her love for her children—those before her and those not—as well as her daughters-in-law and grandchildren. Her final words were, “Live showing each other affection, that your days be long and you see the glory of God as I have.” Her eyelids closed, her breath glided off and her travails ceased at midnight on November 10, 1916. How great is the pain and love for our mother. She will not be returning to us again, but we will journey to her.
May God ease our sorrow and bring us peace.
Mournfully,
JAS H. S. KALEO,
Honolulu, Jan. 2, 1917.
- “Graceless Voice”.
- “Awkward Voice”.
- All of the areas in the preceding paragraph are in the Kipahulu region. Hokona is identified in Land Commission Award 8986B.
- A poetic name for Kipahulu. See entry No. 1463 in the book “ʻŌlelo Noʻeau: Hawaiian Proverbs & Poetical Sayings“.
- From the book “Sites of Maui” (Page 119), “There are other rocky islets standing on the eastern side of Kaʻuiki called Na-niu-a-Kane, Moku-mana, Pukiʻi and Mokūhano. Page 131: “Directly east is the base of Kaʻuwiki, where it ‘kisses’ Moku-hano.”
- “Her birthplace was in a large cave on the side of Kauiki Hill”, from “Sites of Maui” (Page 126).
- “Punahoa, a spring”, from “Sites of Maui” (Page 119).
- “Anini, a surf”, from “Sites of Maui” (Page 119).
- “Puhele, a surf for chiefs to surf on”, from “Sites of Maui” (Page 119).
- From “Sites of Maui” (Page 147): “Water can only enter the pond at high tide, and a grill of iron rods is still used [circa-1929] across the entrance to prevent escape of fish.”
- “Puu-o-Kauhala was a famous hill”, from “Sites of Maui” (Page 119).
- Genesis 3:19.
- Ecclesiastes 12:7.
- Job 1:21.
- That is, the island of Oahu. Kakuhihewa here refers not to the deceased but to an ancient chief of Oahu with the same name (see entry No. 1772 in “ʻŌlelo Noʻeau”).