Dedicated to Queen Kaahumanu
Island Queen, please speak to me, and never mind my tears, for a tearful solution is required as catalyst, and I shall gladly relinquish hardening drops to cement the vale and erect a bridge on the bottomless pit of separation.
"Let it suffice you, my son, to heed some small part of the truth absolute, then we may blend our trends toward the mirror of words: Our lives constantly intersect, we participate in one race, and we share a mutual fate at the finish line: so try me and tell me."
Praise be to you, Stately Woman. Beloved Island Queen, I am not the only man that woos you. A jealous man am I, but I would have the truth at any cost. Please let me sit beside you on your cart. Your mule can bear my little weight. Let me view your court and then, I beseech you, whisper to me your favors, your likes and dislikes. Oh, thank you! I can see clearly now: There is someone approaching, Your Highness.
"Your Highness, we want our land back, and our kings! We have been robbed! We demand justice!"
"Your land, son? This land is not yours, nor mine, for it is not your creation. The First Father brought me up from the sea, and when He wills it, I shall return to the sea. Without me, you would surely drown, yet without my Father, I would surely not be here.
"A few minutes ago, I looked out from my skirts and saw your forefathers paddling their canoes thru the waves. No man stood on my hearth then. I asked not for you, yet your people came to me from another place. How then, since you were sent from somewhere else by queens unknown to me, do you expect justice from this queen? Make your demands to those that sent you here.
"You ask for your kings back. I am not empowered to raise the dead from my treasure chest, but I shall give you some witness to that which you cannot see. Your kings did shed blood in my very palace, ignoring me then, and the strongest said, 'This is my land' over the bodies of the slain, thinking that they would not have to pay the price for this in time. A few moments later, while the skulls were still bared to the Sun's life-giving power, I saw on the horizon even more canoes, and new kings were then on my bozom.
"Yet the price was still not paid.
"Scanning the swells one day later, I looked out and saw a great white bird skimming over the waters, then another, and another. On my shores they cast their droppings.
"At first you welcomed these strange signs, for you had foresaken your violent ways. You stretched out your hands and accepted gifts from the great navigators, knowing not that the gifts having been once accepted, would eventually have to be paid for with your freedom.
"I then heard the sound of a baby volcano, man made, felt a blow to my sandy skirt, and saw men lying there dead. That was the beginning of your captivity.
"I heard one of your kings thereafter make a deal. He collaborated with your captors. To them he said, 'This land is mine,' and to you he said, 'This is the metal of your freedom. I introduce this metal to my kingdom. It shall make your life easy.' Then he sold me to your captors for money. Yet I was never his, nor yours. Never. I am my Father's only. He shall bring justice to your captors, as He brought it to you. Every man thinks I am his private prostitute. Little do they know. But you know.
"You request for land and kings is denied. But leave my court in peace, for I shall give you this assurance: Look to the First Father and He shall let you know His Kingdom well, and you shall see Him bring your captors to their knees."
Thank you, Island Queen. I can see why you are called majestic. But look, here comes another courtesan.
"You Gracious Highness. Listen to my plea. Stop all these tourists from coming here. We have to pay so dearly for their presence here. We cannot afford the prices they are willing to pay. Please, Your Highness, damn the tourists for us!"
"Little boy, you arrived here a few years ago by my time. When you adopted me, you were also a tourist. Shall I damn you too? It is not the tourists that cause you to pay the higher prices. Must I explain to you the wages of men, when you yourself are a man? I have felt your feet on my steps. I have known your intercourse with your kind. Roll back the years, and think on them. You went to men looking for a man's work, and I say to you, you are a slave to men.
"The tourists you denounce came here to see my bounty, and in return, do not pay me, but pay men. They leave with less than they come with, so how do they take anything away from you?
"I say to you, look not to me for solace in this matter, or to the tourists, but look to your human masters, those that fill bank vaults with the fruits of your toils, and those of the tourists. Those men are not tourists. They call themselves Land Lords, but I say to you, only my Father is the Lord of the Land. So go to them, your masters, bow down, make to them your pleas, for without you, they shall be cut off from their wealth. Leave my court now. Your request for damnation is denied."
Island Queen, here comes another!
"Your Majesty, I kiss your feet and ask this boon: Drive these vagabonds, these hairy hippies from our midst. Just look at their filty clothes! They don't work! They are good for nothing parasites! Pests! Drive them out from our land, please!"
"Sir, the filth that you speak of comes from my breast. In private, you men agree that appearances are deceiving, yet in public you desire the regulate the appearance of everyone else.
"The hairy children you speak of are not ashamed of their natural growth, as I am not ashamed of the plants growing in my garden. I say to you that the heads and faces of men are shorn with guilt. Now hear me well. Those vagabonds of yours hold me even closer in their embrace than you do with your pile drivers. These men that wander over my face like birds cannot find a home with their own flock. They are in truth fasting. Fasting not from bread, but from the organized vices of men. Whether from choice or from force, they are in fact castaways. Bring them into your confidence and demonstrate that your ways are truly better, or amend your ways if they are not, for there has risen up a new leader, and His laws are not vague, nor in need of being voted upon."
Beloved Queen of the Isles, another comes hence in haste. See his angry stride?
"Your Grace, lend me your assistance. Look what's going on here! Those damn haoles! Dumb Hawaiians! Greedy malahinis! Japanese hiding hate behind their faces! See those Samoans? Just like the stupid Filipinos! And the Chinese! Communists! Even Jews now! Save us. Have mercy!"
"Do you know whom you are speaking to? Do you feel the earth quaking under you, and see the mountains gush fire? Be still, and fear the rumbling of my guards, lest they quench your petty flames.
"You complain of human beings, so I ask you, what are you? Do you not see the Sun rise and set on every head? Murderous thoughts lurk in your brain, and they shall murder even you.
"Do you think your obscenity makes you clean? A tough man? Indeed! I send you from this court to walk amongst men again, and I promise you, you shall soon have the reward of my Father. And men shall also give you the rewards you deserve."
Majestic Muse! Island Queen! Must you now retire, so soon? I would not tire hearing you, but so be your wish, and I thank you for allowing me to hear your audiences.
1970 Waikiki
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