E Hui PūSage Takehiro
E Hui Pū!
E Hui Pū!
Aia I hea nā Kānaka?
Call them from their homes
where ever they may be
Call them from airports, hotels
call them from the sea
Call them from schools
resturaunts, kitchens
Call them from parks
beaches, benches
Call them from Kahiki
continents, countries
Call them from farms
Lo‘i, streams
Call them from buildings
forests, jungles
Call them from jobs,
jails, gyms
Call all Kānaka,
dead or alive, flesh crawls
beneath skin
Call all Kānaka
smart and dumb—
if you don't get what this mele is saying
then don't ask me
ask your mana
Call all Kānaka
for better or for worse
death doesn’t part us
mana never dies.
Trace its movements with your tongue
taste its tracks, swallow its spirit
let it carry your eyes.
Look at Us.
E nānā iā Kākou, E 'ike i ka 'ï
Our bones hide from bulldozers
in the dirt breast of our mother
while the bones of our ancestors
breathe under our brown skin
born from the same darkness
As the Mo'o
We change colors
Mana Never Dies.
Call the owl, the honu, the pig
ask for guidance, peace, and pua
Call the shark, the manō, the hunter
ask him to swim circles around us,
pull fish into our nets and feed
knowledge into our piko, stir whispers
of star to ocean, whispers to the nä’au
Calling all Kānaka
E hui pū
E hui pū Kākou
E hui pū ka Mana
E hui pū no Hawai'i nei
E hui pū no nā Kānaka
E hui pū Kākou
E hui pū
E hui pū e
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