K Ū P U N A

In honor of the 38 kūpuna arrested on this day two years ago

Memories of this day are still coming to me like mist
Soaking my skin in the tears I cried
As we watched our elders bound by their wrists
Yet their enduring hands stayed bound to the earth
Steady like rock
Shaped by river
Ha‘uha‘u uē
All the ancestors in me wailed
Pounding lighting on my chest
Chanting thunder into my ribs
And I sobbed a deluge from the rainforests I keep in my heart
Yet their faces wrinkled like mountain slopes said to tell this story
From before and before
To beyond and beyond
Their voices full of EA
They told us to stay on the Mauna
And protect her with all of our love
So we stay
We stand
We love
Just like they told us to
Just like they taught us to
Just like they still teach us to
No nā hulu kūpuna

#protectmaunakea
#wearemaunakea
#nokeewekupuna