...Dreams of the old days…

Silver of moons moving over nights.

The flesh-warm sand

In the dark embrace of moon and stars,

Gleaming in deep nocturnal blue.

Long limbed palms of Waialae

Swaying in sea-curved arches.

Hovering hau of Kahala.

Cool, green-tinged kuku’i at Punahou.

Leaf-moulding ravines

And heavy wild ginger upon Tantalus.

Ko’a with fern-damp shoulders

Cresting over Nuuanu.

Corners of hills and high hidden valleys

Cupping in Koolau hollows...

Seeing and feeling--we know of it all.

We're less vulnerable using music to recall:

Pick and strum with powerful expression,

Enhance with falsetto for diversion.

Hiding in melody and words of grace;

When singing we keep emotions “safe.”

Oahu’s sisters, too, are part of “him,”

Quietly admired, they’re his paean:

…Fire-blood summits glow on the young island of Hawaii;

Haleakala’s gutted crest on Maui is

magenta-dewed in its ash-cold bowl;

Molokai stretches her yawning cliffs

to the sky;

Lanai and Kahoolawe lie in the calm-cool

pools of sun;

Over Waialeale’s hulk, a conflagration of clouds

rise out of the tundra of Kauai’s plateaus;

Whisper-flung shadows of mountain and

cloud browse over Niihau on the

undulate bosom of the ocean.

Singing is a way to recall past life,

Contained, while escaping all current strife:

...The rain-corroded dome of Koko Head

warming to the first soft brush of the sun;

The slate-toned crenellations of the Koolaus

kindling to purple, amethyst, and plum;

Morning stippling the pillars of Diamond Head

with patches of splendor;

Over the Waikiki roofs, facets of light

leaping onto Kawaiahao’s grandeur.

Dawn sighs, wistful in its flight,

wandering on, wondering on…

following night.

We'll sing again another time.

J. Arthur Rath is a Hawaii writer who can be reached by e-mail at mailto:imua@spamarrest.com

To submit a story to the Slice of Life, Hawaiian Style series, write to Malia Zimmerman, editor of Hawaii Reporter, at mailto:Malia@hawaiireporter.com

Slice of Life, Hawaiian Style...