Tūtū - Dennis Kamakahi

Aloha aʻe au i kuʻu Tūtū
Me kona puʻuwai lokomaikaʻi

ʻO kona minoʻaka i kona alo
Kuʻu wahi puʻuhonua i piha me ke aloha

Haʻupu no au i kona leo nani
Honehone me ke kani a ke kāhuli

Noho iho ʻoia i ka noho paipai
Mele ʻana i kekahi mele hoʻoluhiluhi

Haʻina ʻia mai ana ka puana
Aloha aʻe au i kuʻu Tūtū

I love my Tūtū
With her generous heart

Her smile on her face
Is my place of refuge filled with love

I remember her beautiful voice
Sweet like the sound of the kāhuli

She sits down on her rocking chair
Singing a certain lullaby

Thus ends the story
I love my Tūtū

Source: The manaʻo from Dennis Kamakahi - This song was written for my great grandmother, Jenny Makanui Foster Kamakahi, the 4th and last wife of Robert William Kamakahi. She lived in the Lunalilo Home for many years and when I would visit her, she would share stories of my family from Hālawa Valley, Molokaʻi. Her sharp wit and her recollection of life during the turn of the 20th century was fascinating. She was born 1898, at Kewalo, Oʻahu and died in 1991, at the age of 92. © 1987 Naukilo Publishing Co