On having to leave the the mauna for the first time: ⠀

⠀

I am here to tell you ⠀

That your very concept of aloha will shrink in the shadow casts by this mauna ⠀

so that when you are finally forced to leave her malu ⠀

After 42 days under her protection

It will bring every one of your kūpuna to the Surface of your skin ⠀

All your lepo ⠀

And all you Kai ⠀

will all come bubbling right through you ⠀

Until you are spilling ⠀

Spilling ⠀

Spilling over ⠀

At her ankles ⠀

⠀

And if you are lucky ⠀

You have a wahine ⠀

Who will turn her palms down to your ‘āina to hold you as you weep⠀

If you are lucky ⠀

You will have a mauna ⠀

That you can watch from the rear view as ⠀

You shrink away from her ⠀

Until you are so small ⠀

That you have barely any voice left⠀

If you are lucky ⠀

Your ‘iwi will remember all the mele your father taught you⠀

So that you will still resonate ⠀

From the inside out in ⠀

⠀

If you are lucky you will remember the grace⠀

Of the last 42 uninterrupted sunrises across her skin⠀

You will know if you were ever truly a kia’i ⠀

Is was because you had the gift of being shaped in her image ⠀

⠀

If you are lucky you’ll have just enough breath to say  ⠀

Mahalo piha e ku’u aloha ⠀

For all the ways you loved and reshaped me ⠀

For all the ways learning to honor and stand for  you, ⠀

Saved me⠀

⠀

If you are lucky ⠀

You will get to say⠀

A Hui hou kāua ⠀

Knowing the exact weight of that phrase ⠀

⠀