Na Pali
A Hawaiian king keeps
his resting place hidden
through blood - hand-chosen.
Here in this valley,
near the Children
of the Bird God,
rope snap.
Near this swell of
time and sea, boats stir
spinner dolphins from
one-eyed sleep. On watch
for sandman.
Watercolor water. Have
mercy on the sky. Dye the
world in white caps, mark the
water level rising.
This deep into beauty
we skirt the edge
of the thinning veil -
this bafflement of the wake.
Back from Kaua’i! What a stunning place. We had a great boat tour of the Na Pali coast, or as many Hawaiians call the area, “Kalalau” which means fluted leaves. To quote Simon & Garfunkel, “What a time it was and what a time it was, it was.”
Back in the days of Hawaiian kings, a king would select a lower class individual to be their dedicated guide to the afterlife. When the kind would die, they would treat the body and lower the selected individual by rope into the valley. While dangling, they would then find a final resting place for the king’s remains in the cliffside and signal up to have the rope cut. With this, the final resting place remained secret forever and the individual’s family would climb a social class.
Spinner dolphins swim while sleeping, did you. know that? We encountered a pod of 100+ just kinda bobbing in and out of the water - all asleep. Metallica reference here from Enter Sandman “sleep with one eye open”.
Everything feels secret on a choppy coastline. You can almost see below you through the water. You can almost see the landscape in definition through sea breeze, mist and spray. Light chooses what to give and what to keep - kinda like a veil.