Nani Nâ Pua - Words & Music by Lili`uokalani
Nani nâ pua Ko`olau
I memele i ka uka
Ka uka o Kuihanalei
I lei mau no ke aloha
`Auhea wale ana `oe
E ka pua o ka lokelani
`O ka `oi aku nô `oe
Ma mua o ka nae `ala

Mahalo au `o ka nani
Nâ lehua o Lîhau
He `ala kûpaoa
Anuanu o ka nahele
I wili `ia me ka maile
Lauli`i o Ko`iahi
`Auhea lâ ia pua
`Akipohe o Halealoha

Ua ola nâ kaua
I ka wai huna a ka manu
He `ala pua pïkake
Huli au a ho`oma`ü
`Auhea wale ana `oe
E ka pua `o ka Viliau
Ho`i mai nö käua
E pili me ke aloha


 The flowers of Ko’olau in their beauty
Fill the vale, fill with golden gleam
I cull and wreathe them for my loved one
At morn and night she fills my waking dream
Where are you, fairest of all fair ones
Where are you sweetest of all sweets
You are a flower of Paradise
That the morning breeze ever kindly greets

I praise your beauty, my fair one
You are the flower of all flowers to me
The lehua flower whose ardent sweetness
Overpowers the wanderer over the lea
And I cry “where are you, my loved one”
My spirit wants to be with you
To taste hours of tranquil pleasure
And wander neath Koiahi’s tree

The trilling notes of hidden songsters
As they sport around the jasmine bower
The scent yet in my memory lingers
Reminds me of you, the fairest flowers
Of Viliau, the sweetest blossom
Without you, my life is lonely
Come fill my hours with bliss, I pray thee
My flower, my bird, my chief and chosen one
Source: Composed in 1860, this was one of Lili`uokalani's first published works. It was signed L.K. (Lydia Kamaka`eha) Päkï , the name she used until her marriage in 1862. Translation by Lili`uokalani