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| A view of Hanama`ulu from Kalepa Heights |
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| Photo : Karl Lo | August 2004 |
HANAMA`ULU SCHOOL ALMA MATER
Hanama`ulu near Kalepa Heights,
Hanama`ulu School, we're here to learn our rights.
Hanama`ulu by the sea so blue,
Hanama`ulu School, our hearts are always true.
To the West, Kalepa Heights so green,
Through our radiotelephone our world is seen.
To the East, Ahukini port of call
For steamers large and steamers small.
To the North, the airship station lies,
Airships come and go across the sky.
To the South, Hanama`ulu Town
USA Post Office, sugarcane around.
Parents, teachers, friends and schoolmates dear,
Welcome ever, we're happy to see you here.
Aloha, children, work for peace, not war,
Pacific countries look to us for law.
Aina ia mai ana kapuana,
Hanama`ulu School, we love you best of all.
HANAMA`ULU
Patient Kalepa watches over Hanama`ulu
like a mother holding her baby
close to her bosom.
And the calm blue sea fences the town
in a semi-circle
which faithful Kalepa views with alert eyes.
Hanama`ulu's nickname as "tired bay"
reflects the town's peaceful setting.
Consider that the town is a humble hamlet --
a quiet little town that travelers often miss
on their way to Hanalei from Lihu`e
with more scenic island sites
coming into view along the way.
From Kilohana Crater to Hanama`ulu Bay
the town reflects the seemingly "tired" name.
But discerning eyes see that the calm surf at the bay
makes Hanama`ulu to look like a "tired bay."
From the ancestors of the Kiilaus and the Coremas,
the Setos, the Saritas, the Changs,
and all the early settlers
who made this plantation town home
to the three thousand who today call
this square mile corridor on the Garden Island --
this one and only Hanama`ulu Town -- HOME
"tired" is not apropos.
Catherine Pascual Lo -- July 11, 2004
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HANAMA`ULU CELEBRATES
Hanama`ulu celebrates:
Kawelo's birthplace celebrates in dance:
The hula, tinikling, bon, and Tahitian,
Maori, Borinque, ballroom, square dance.
Hanama`ulu celebrates:
Kawelo's birthplace celebrates in song:
With ukulele, ipu, and guitar.
Hanama`ulu celebrates:
Kawelo's birthplace celebrates poi and pinacbet,
Chicken hekka, bean soup, and tamale,
Hamburger, hot dog, and pastele,
Spring roll, chow fun, and kim chee,
And in celebration the town becomes one.
Hanama`ulu celebrates:
Kawelo's birthplace remembers the past:
Kawelo's birthplace celebrates the present:
And in celebration the town becomes one
And Hanama`ulu embraces the future with aloha.
Catherine Pascual Lo -- July 11, 2004
Note: In prehistoric Hawai`i, Kawelo was a hero who was born
in Hanama`ulu. Visit the PREHISTORY page of the Web site and read the legend on this son of Hanama`ulu.
MORNING THOUGHTS AT ILIAHI PLACE
The sparrows are sitting on the lichee tree,
Singing in their familiar way;
The wind is gently teasing my hair
With his long and nimble fingers.
The Giant is sleeping at my left;
At my right Waialeale is waking up
To the sound of the rain.
Directly below is the German Forest.
The road cruises a mile down the forest
Where the ironwood trees instinctively create
A green canopy that stretches
From Iliahi to the cane fields below.
The morning is just beginning:
Lihue lies still amidst the tasseling sugar canes.
Behind me sits Kilohana -- now just a crater --
Whose fury the centuries have silenced.
If a sparrow would lend me her wings,
If the wind would carry me in his pocket,
I would bring you here, my friend,
Where the views inspire lofty thoughts.
Catherine Pascual Lo | 1958/1987
Kilohana Crater, whose summit rises to 1143 feet, is the upper boundary of Hanama`ulu as an ahupua`a -- an ancient land division
usually extending from the mountain to the sea. Hanama`ulu Bay is its lowest boundary.
"Iliahi," the home of Caleb and Forence Burns, sat on a lovely incline above the German Forest, a short distance
below Kilohana Crater, where the panoramic view of Kaua`i is beyond words. Mr. Burns (1884-1970) was manager of Lihue Plantation
from August 1933 to April 1951. The author's Dad, employed by Lihue Plantation, joined the manager's staff in 1947, and the
family settled in three cottages on the upper slopes of the 17,779-acre estate, to the right above "Iliahi" in 1954
upon the family's arrival from the Philippines. Mom and Dad lived at Iliahi Place until 1967, when the Burnses moved to Honolulu.
"liahi" is "sandalwood' in the Hawaiian language. The 6,020 square-foot mansion, designed by Honolulu's
famous architect C. W. Dickey , was named "Iliahi" after the giant sandalwood that was on the site when the land
was cleared in October 1933 and believed to have been used for interior paneling. "Iliahi" was completed in March
1934.
The original version of the poem, which the author wrote in June 1958 when she came home from Thiel College after completing
her junior year, was published in the POET'S CORNER of "The Garden Island" on December 25, 1972.
For more poetry by Catherine Lo, log in:
www.htcelebration.org/poemswithoutborders
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