A poem for Maui
Help for Hawaii - a plea in a poem
Written in response to a call from Cindy here, for poems to help Maui:
I know your shores, Hawaii.
I have seen your dramatic green:
Unfurling in the dark as a fiddlehead,
Waiting to be plucked at the entrance
To a tube, now cooled, for tourists
To enter the heart of you.
And your green, where it dominates the ocean,
Looming over the blue,
Protective and strong,
Unflinching as the sea slaps you for attention,
Washing the rocks and reminding you
Of its presence, like a grasping toddler,
Insistent and stubborn.
I have walked the rippled, rucked ground
Of cold lava fields and
Scaled your heights to see the clouds
Unfurl below, over the landscape,
Rolling inexorably in to enfold
The land and your people.
I have shared in your wonders -
Beaches of black, beaten by surf,
Turtles resting,
Surprising you on the sand,
Perched next to white stones, placed,
Brightly saying "Aloha!"
And your skies! Pricked with stars,
Dashed with comets - a sight that wowed me!
Open-mouthed wonder, I was like a child
Seeing night for the first time,
Like it was veiled, shielded from me,
Waiting for its moment to be revealed.
***
And now, that sky, it is veiled again.
Night is watching the islands through a haze,
The stars blinking at a scene
Black, red, angry.
Hawaii is burning.
Maui is burning.
I feel the hurt from here;
Scenes of grey, charred rubble
And the contorted shapes of cars,
Hollowed out.
Families' footsteps in their homes,
Roofless, wall-less, formless.
"This is where the kitchen was."
Hills now the backdrop to carnage
And woe,
And relentless, hopeful searching.
***
Blurred footage from phones
Of people escaping with only their souls,
Leaving their material lives behind.
An inert figure at the roadside, slumped -
"We have to leave her! We need to get out of here!"
The car goes by, driven by survival instinct.
Panic!
Tears.
Loss.
***
I saw an Hawaiian interviewed:
He did not know where his brother was.
The fire was fast and hungry.
The man hoped, he said, "it was fast."
He was not talking about the fire.
He did not know where his brother was.
***
I feel the hurt from here,
Many miles away.
The decimation, the loss.
I want to help,
To be there for you
But I will not visit you.
It feels wrong.
It is not our time to meet again
But I want you to know
That the world watches,
Like the sky at night
And we care
And we share your grief
And we will help.
We will support your healing in
Whatever way we can,
Our goodwill waves reaching across the water
Lapping your green shores;
Travelling to soothe and support you.
It is a small thing, I offer, we offer,
But I hope, like a balm,
It will help with the healing.
Let's help them.
And check out other writers here:
Help, if you can.
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Comments (22)
Beautiful!
So deeply heartfelt and so heart-tearing. You balance the poetic and the informational, bringing us in through the lens of memory and then, beautifully, using that image of a “veil” over the sky to transition from beauty to tragedy. I can hear your pained heart in these lines, putting words to our feelings. Poetry too can help inspire support for people facing tragedy while forever encapsulating these painful moments in crystalline words.
I can count the times on one hand that poetry on Vocal made me cry... and this poem did it twice. What a beautiful, moving and bittersweet poem! You truly have a gift with words! 💓
Rachel, this was such a moving a beautiful poem with a vivid and emotional imagery! It was heart breaking and insightful! The part about the mans interview and his hopes for his brother broke me a little, such a devastating poem and a beautful way to bring not only awareness but pull us together as a group to help those that need it!
Thank you for capturing the beauty of Hawaii and expressing the anguish and tragedy of what has happened there.
A wonderful tribute, well done on your Top Story ❤
🥹❤️📝Well written and 🎉🎉🎉🎉Congratulations on your Top Story🎉
A very torching poem ad s sad story that happened to the people of Hawaii
Reallyyyyy very very sad for all of them. Your poem made me very emotional. Let us all pray for them. Congratulations on your Top Story!
Wishing all the best to those in Hawaii and all their families!
Prayers to the people of Maui. Touching poem. Congratulations on top story.
Your words are excellent. This was very thoughtful. I pray that relief comes soon and plan to do my part and donate whatever I can. Thank you!
A beautiful tribute thank you pouring your heart into this and sharing with the world
This is so beautiful, and so heartbreaking.
My heart goes out to Maui ❤️😩
excellent work like it keep going
Rachel, you were able to express how I have been feeling. Now, after reading your awesome poem, there is a lump in my throat. Aloha!!! Mahalo!!!
So much more than a poem, thank you for such an emotional read ❤️
This is beautiful! I added your poem to my list here: https://shopping-feedback.today/wander/my-favorite-spots-in-maui-hawaii%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/span%3E%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv class="css-w4qknv-Replies">
Beautifully done, Rachel. I felt the emotion, the pain behind the words, especially 'Of people escaping with only their souls'. It really is a tragedy what's happened there. I'm linking your poem in mine, too.
Beautifully stated Rachel. So many lines brought tears to my eyes. "The man searching for his brother." and "this is where the kitchen was." Thank you for writing. I will add the link to your poem on mine as well.
Beautifully said and this hits close to home for me. I was talking to my Brother last night. He lives in the BC interior and as of yesterday his small town was put on evacuation alert.