Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HAWAIIAN SERENADE, by CLIFFORD GESSLER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HAWAIIAN SERENADE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Come, my kukui flower
Last Line: Let us taste, while the tide is high!
Subject(s): Hawaii


Come, my kukui flower!
Your eyes sing, your lips are a song of love.
Speak to me. Your words
are a calabash of cool water, poured
over one thirsting.
Or be silent, my wreath of jasmine. Your silence
is a ripe lilikoe, a heap of fine tapa.

Laugh, hinalo-bloom! Your laughter
is as a breeze at night over ginger-blossoms.
O my chaplet of maile!
bury my face under your fragrant hair;
let your face be near! Your face
is as a leaf at a feast, filled with deliciousness.

Come, my lehua bud!
Place between my hands the twin bowls of kou;
comfort my forehead against the cool gourd of your body.
Caress me as the sea waves caress, O my mantle of bright feathers!

"Better than poi and fish is love," it is written;
kinder than the cool fruit of the palm,
warm as a good tapa at night in the cold valleys,
bitter as awa, yet sweet as the peeled joints of cane,
is love. And you, you are love, mokihana wreath,
you and I together, are love.

Loves pass as the clouds sweep down from the mountains and pass,
loves come and go as the tides.
Come, therefore, my hala wreath, my delight, my fragrant,
let us taste, while the tide is high!





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