Uploaded March 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Itʻs mo‘olelo time! Follow a raindrop as it goes through the water cycle in Hawai‘i. Ola i ka wai! Share this pidgin poem with your friends and those who you think might enjoy it, maybe even the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and the U.S. Military industrial complex and its leadership.
Educators and everyday people in the community have come together to create learning resources around the protection and conservation of one of the most important enablers of life — water. View the collection of free wai-related resources, like the poem in this video, for your ‘ohana or classroom, at waihona.net.
waihona.net/#/collections/R6esuUATlu9rvmh4PKRX
——————
Dea once was one raindrop
Dat fell from one ao
Not owie kine ao
But ao like da cloud
“Get chokin kine ao”
I know you may say
Ao puaʻa’s da one
It was fat and gray
It blew in on makani
“Now which one is dat?
Cuz kū ka paila
I know fo a fac
“Get Moaʻe, Malanai
Hoʻolua’s one too
Konahea, Konalani
Konamoe, Konakū”
True dat, you right
Good question, I say
Our kūpuna named hundreds
Of winds in their day
I guess it depends
Which way da wind blew
How fast and how strong
What place and time too
But ne’er mind all da questions!
Let’s stick to da story
Back to da raindrop
It gets all da glory
It rose up from da kai
As evaporation
Das how we got
Dis precipitation
And befoa dat, da lā
He wen heat up da kai
Dat big, hot bruddah
He wen turn ‘em to wai
Befoa da kai
Its path is unknown
Could’ve come from one stream
Or one undahground home
“What kine dat?” Wasamata?
You neva wen heea?
Hanabada stay
Livin’ insi’ yo eea?
Get one fancy-kine word
Called aquifer
It’s one body of rock
That contains groundwater
Took 25 years
Fo get ova heea
Trickling tru da ground
Fo filter ‘em cleea
To become da wata
Dat comes tru our sinks
Pumped up from a well
So dat we can drink
And if we go back
To da ua, I know
You goin ask, “What kine?”
And hulihuli we go
So let’s bring dis one home
Haʻina’s da verse
Wea we wrap em all up
Kala mai fo being terse
Dis one little raindrop
Has been many places
Like one kupua
It has many faces
At one time was kai
Was ao, was ua
Was stream or groundwata
But sometin’s fo shua
Whe’eva it went
Whe’eva it flowed
It gave life to honua
Now das one big load
It may be little
It may just be one
But it has an ʻohana
Fo get da job done
Togeda da drops
Of wata dey flow
So plants, birds, fish, people
Can all live and grow
Wai is waiwai
Wen clean and pure
Dea is no life
Witout wata fo shua
Takes years fo clean
Raindrops into wata
Da kine we all drink
Our muddahs, bruddahs, faddahs
But so wikiwiki
Da wata get dirtey
From leaking jet fuel
Left nearby in one hurrey
Or from trash just trown out
Witout one little kea
To pollute da kai
And kill living tings dea
Toxic chemicals dumped
By big industry
Das one ada source
Of pollution, you see
So many attacks
Get chokin’ assaults
Dat goin’ choke out da life
But you know who’s at fault?
People, we are
Da ones who fo blame
Treating wata and life
As if was one game
But if we da problem
Guess who’s da solution?
It’s we, kānaka
Dea’s no dilution
Of da pure fact
We get kuleana
To mālama ʻāina
As keiki o ka ʻāina
Uē ka lani
Ola ka honua
Dis waiwai of Kāne
Is fo everyone, I’m shua
So do all you can
To take kea da land
No make any kine plans
Dat goin screw up dis fam
We only get one
Honua, it’s true
And it all boils down
To me and to you
Hō, look how long
Dis haʻina wen las
And how I wish
Could go back in the pas
And press da button
Dat can undo
Hewa to da ʻāina
But no time fo huhū
No ack up, now’s da time
Fo be like one farmer
Huli iho ka lima
And we will get farther
So wat? Tirsty yet
From hearing all about wai?
Den aloha ʻāina
E aloha mau i ka wai
Ola i ka wai.
—————
Haku ʻia na Kiele Gonzalez
#olaikawai #kapukakipoetry #shutdownredhill
Itʻs mo‘olelo time! Follow a raindrop as it goes through the water cycle in Hawai‘i. Ola i ka wai! Share this pidgin poem with your friends and those who you think might enjoy it, maybe even the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and the U.S. Military industrial complex and its leadership.
Educators and everyday people in the community have come together to create learning resources around the protection and conservation of one of the most important enablers of life — water. View the collection of free wai-related resources, like the poem in this video, for your ‘ohana or classroom, at waihona.net.
waihona.net/#/collections/R6esuUATlu9rvmh4PKRX
——————
Dea once was one raindrop
Dat fell from one ao
Not owie kine ao
But ao like da cloud
“Get chokin kine ao”
I know you may say
Ao puaʻa’s da one
It was fat and gray
It blew in on makani
“Now which one is dat?
Cuz kū ka paila
I know fo a fac
“Get Moaʻe, Malanai
Hoʻolua’s one too
Konahea, Konalani
Konamoe, Konakū”
True dat, you right
Good question, I say
Our kūpuna named hundreds
Of winds in their day
I guess it depends
Which way da wind blew
How fast and how strong
What place and time too
But ne’er mind all da questions!
Let’s stick to da story
Back to da raindrop
It gets all da glory
It rose up from da kai
As evaporation
Das how we got
Dis precipitation
And befoa dat, da lā
He wen heat up da kai
Dat big, hot bruddah
He wen turn ‘em to wai
Befoa da kai
Its path is unknown
Could’ve come from one stream
Or one undahground home
“What kine dat?” Wasamata?
You neva wen heea?
Hanabada stay
Livin’ insi’ yo eea?
Get one fancy-kine word
Called aquifer
It’s one body of rock
That contains groundwater
Took 25 years
Fo get ova heea
Trickling tru da ground
Fo filter ‘em cleea
To become da wata
Dat comes tru our sinks
Pumped up from a well
So dat we can drink
And if we go back
To da ua, I know
You goin ask, “What kine?”
And hulihuli we go
So let’s bring dis one home
Haʻina’s da verse
Wea we wrap em all up
Kala mai fo being terse
Dis one little raindrop
Has been many places
Like one kupua
It has many faces
At one time was kai
Was ao, was ua
Was stream or groundwata
But sometin’s fo shua
Whe’eva it went
Whe’eva it flowed
It gave life to honua
Now das one big load
It may be little
It may just be one
But it has an ʻohana
Fo get da job done
Togeda da drops
Of wata dey flow
So plants, birds, fish, people
Can all live and grow
Wai is waiwai
Wen clean and pure
Dea is no life
Witout wata fo shua
Takes years fo clean
Raindrops into wata
Da kine we all drink
Our muddahs, bruddahs, faddahs
But so wikiwiki
Da wata get dirtey
From leaking jet fuel
Left nearby in one hurrey
Or from trash just trown out
Witout one little kea
To pollute da kai
And kill living tings dea
Toxic chemicals dumped
By big industry
Das one ada source
Of pollution, you see
So many attacks
Get chokin’ assaults
Dat goin’ choke out da life
But you know who’s at fault?
People, we are
Da ones who fo blame
Treating wata and life
As if was one game
But if we da problem
Guess who’s da solution?
It’s we, kānaka
Dea’s no dilution
Of da pure fact
We get kuleana
To mālama ʻāina
As keiki o ka ʻāina
Uē ka lani
Ola ka honua
Dis waiwai of Kāne
Is fo everyone, I’m shua
So do all you can
To take kea da land
No make any kine plans
Dat goin screw up dis fam
We only get one
Honua, it’s true
And it all boils down
To me and to you
Hō, look how long
Dis haʻina wen las
And how I wish
Could go back in the pas
And press da button
Dat can undo
Hewa to da ʻāina
But no time fo huhū
No ack up, now’s da time
Fo be like one farmer
Huli iho ka lima
And we will get farther
So wat? Tirsty yet
From hearing all about wai?
Den aloha ʻāina
E aloha mau i ka wai
Ola i ka wai.
—————
Haku ʻia na Kiele Gonzalez
#olaikawai #kapukakipoetry #shutdownredhill
