Chapter XXIX: Canto II: 589

Alas for them, now grieving in sadness! 40. On all sides they grieve their loss; They sit constant with heads bowed down; They sit with hands beneath their chins; They feed upon their grief and their sadness; They eat men as sweet food; the thought of flight is their constant meat 45. The fire of death is kindled among them,—O thou Kalanimakua! Puna is dead! Puna is dead! Puna is thrice dead!! They live in dying sighs, they gasp for breath; They catch their breath as in hiccough—the hiccough ends the breathing; The breath and breathing are gone, the spirit has fled. 50. They have forsaken the place of the sun—the place of warmth; They have gone to darkness, to the place of cold; They have leaped into darkness, the place of shivering, The sun is departed, the warmth is changed with desolation. The light of day is passed to the parent chief and his people; 55. One only parent now rules over the island. Let the chief live to extreme old age; Let the chief live till his spirit dies; Till the signs of his death shall pass from the land; Till the sign of death shall pass from his district of Hilo. 60. Hilo is in a state of dying;—even Waiakea; Hilo is thrown down the precipice of death; Hilo has a deathly flight;—Hilo in dying, is twisted as a rope; The mountain part of Hilo is dead, this part wails for death; Even now dead;—Hilo is really dead,—has disappeared in thick darkness. 65.