For Gaza
—with a battle cry from Kamehameha Nui
We drink this and share the same taste with you.
We mixed the kava in the parking lot, face-to-face with you.
What becomes of children who drink war instead of water?
The rubble, a chronic obituary. I will never waste a name with you.
Today an elder dreams in the long arms of his olive trees.
Home, he sings. To put hands to the light and fill crates with you.
The drone wind whips, grief wraps a country’s throat.
We find your hands and keep our place with you.
E inu i ka wai ʻawaʻawa. Histories of bitter waters and love,
love, love. E Palesetina ē, Hawaiʻi stays and fights with you.
by Noʻu Revilla
from Split This Rock
AUTHOR’S NOTE: This ghazal incorporates famous words of Kamehameha Nui, who united the Hawaiian islands. Before a battle on Maui, he implored his warriors: “I mua e nā pōkiʻi a inu i ka wai ʻawaʻawa (Forward, my siblings, and drink the bitter waters).” Throughout Oceania, Indigenous Pasifika people believe that if we drink the same thing before taking collective action, we go forward with the same stomach. As an ʻŌiwi aloha ʻāina, I am proud of the historic and ongoing connections between Hawaiʻi and Palestine. We stand with Palestine.
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