Mauna 'Ala...

I began the day today at 4:45 at Mauna 'Ala. The Royal Mausoleum. The morning was cool and crisp. The Heavens opened up in a beautiful cascade of twinkling stars and swirling white clouds puffed into shapes which awakened my sleepy imagination so early in the morning. The sacred burial ground of our beloved Kings and Queens. Princes and Princesses. We gathered in prayer. In song. We sounded the pu, the conch shell, which reverberated through the darkness of Nu'uanu Valley. Gently but assuredly waking the hundreds, if not thousands, of dead which surrounded us in a half-mile radius. We offered ho'okupu to the Kamehameha Dynasty at their tomb. And to the Kalakaua Dynasty at their crypt. It is hard not to be on your best behavior. In body. Spirit. And mind. Pono. In the presence of your ancestors. In the presence of your Queen.

Mauna 'Ala was removed from the public lands by Congress in 1900. It is the only place in Hawai'i where the Hawaiian flag flies alone. Without the American flag. Little did I know how the beginning of the day would set forth a prophecy which ended the day. Almost unbelievable. Yet so Hawaiian....