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For Gaza

By Noʻu Revilla

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.

 

 


 

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. 

 

 

 

Listen as Noʻu Revilla reads For Gaza.
Added: Friday, November 29, 2024  /  Used with permission.
Noʻu Revilla
Photo by Bryan Kamaoli Kuwada.

Noʻu Revilla is an ʻŌiwi poet and educator. Standing with aloha ʻāina around the world, she joins the demand that Palestinians and all oppressed people be liberated and free to care for each other and their homelands on their own terms. My ea is bound to your ea. We need each other.

Image Description: Noʻu Revilla is seated against a black background and faces you directly. She has dark brown hair, which is fixed in a high bun, and is wearing a sea-green dress that ropes around her neck.

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