Nalo Meli (Honey Bee) - Words & music
by Alice Namakelua |
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| E aha ʻana ʻoe e ka nalo meli Mūkīkī pua aloalo Maluna malalo pau na ono Ke kiʻi ana ia a ka nalo meli ʻAʻohe pua kau ʻole a ka meli Pau o ke aloalo me ka melia Ke kiawe o ka hau me ke kuawa Na pua ono ia a ka nalo meli Haʻina ʻia mai ana ka puana No ka nalo kau i ka pua aloalo Maluna malalo pau na ono Ke kiʻi ana ia a ka nalo meli |
What are you doing little honey bee? Sipping the sweet from the hibiscus bloom From the top to the bottom you gather sweets That`s the trick of the little honey bee There’s lots of choice for the honey bee It picks the hibiscus and the plumeria The kiawe, the hau and guava, too That’s the trick of the little honey bee This is the story I have told you Of the bee that sits on the hibiscus From the top to the bottom gather all the sweets That’s the trick of the little honey bee |
| Source: "Aunty Alice Namakelua’s Lifetime Hawaiian Compositions" - July 31, 1960, the composer went to visit her friends, but they were not at home. She waited in her car for their arrival and watched the bees gathering nectar from the different flowers. This was the inspiration for this song. Alice Namakelua was 59 years old when she composed this song and 78 when she translated it. © 1973, Heinz Guenther Gerhard Pink | |