Friday, October 7, 2016

Hawaiiana

Ni'ihau steals another sunset from Kauai
As the lavender smoke of breathing clouds
Roosts in shadow for the night.

The palm fronds edged with rust
Were worthy of our imaginings,
The thick-fingered grasses
Have never stopped waving gold.

The fur-draped mountains
With moving silver crowns
Stayed fiercely protective
Like arrowheads poised in the sky

As the spirits were unveiled inside of me
On their flight to Polihale.

But there's a limit to the generosity
Of spirit.

The stars so pure and piercing
In galaxies woven in webs
Are overwhelmed by blots of cloud
Like figures of a dreamed earth,

But the stars burn through
The overhang
Like eyes,
And the centurions appear again.
The homeland channel throbs.