Eating Of The Poi - Traditional

Oh, dear! Oh, dear! a very queer
And curious thing I've seen,
Which takes the shine completely off;
The wearing of the green;
Potatoes constitute a dish
That Irishmen enjoy.
But it can't hold a candle to
The eating of the poi.

I met a fat kanaka, and he
Asked me to his hale,
He wore no clothes to speak of,
But a pāʻū and pāpale,
Upon a mat cross-legged we sat,
And there, and then, my boy,
I was initiated in
The eating of the poi.

A calabash between us stood,
Tutui in a dish,
And in another one, some
Animated shrimps and fish;
We pitched in, and did
No cutlery employ,
The finger is the instrument
For the eating of the poi.

You dip it in, and stir it round
'Tis difficult to learn
And harder to describe, the
Proper scientific turn,
Sometimes one finger, sometimes two,
And sometimes three employ,
According to your appetite
When eating of the poi.

To unaccustomed lips, it has
A most peculiar taste,
A strong similarity
To very ancient paste  
But when you've clean'd the calabash,
You want to hiamoe,
And soon get fat as butter, just
From eating of the poi
 

Source: Wayne Reis - The first hapa-haole song published, appeared in 1888, in Ka Buke O Nā Leo Mele Hawaiʻi O Nā Home Hawaiʻi, a Hawaiian-language publication compiled by Keakaokalani and J. M. Bright