Ua Hala...

Repost from 2009: 

Hala. Passing. A good friend called me yesterday from a hospice in Wai'anae on O'ahu where his mother is staying. He said she is ready to pass on to the other side. She wanted to see me. I went out this morning with a co-worker. We spent the morning in her presence and that of the ancestors. Her spirit was still strong but her body is quickly fading. We prayed. I had brought some food for the nurses and then some delicious Hawaiian food for his mom. We ate poi, dried aku, ahi limu poke, tako poke and shared such a beautiful time. Laughing. Crying. Praying. She spoke intermittently of things that only could have come from the other side. She was listening to the ancestors and saying things, singing, and offering bits of precious mana'o and 'ike Hawai'i. Thoughts and Hawaiian vision. 

In between her normal self. We treasured each bit of messages from the ancestors. She wanted to see another person too. 'Ohana from Kaua'i. Another frontline warrior trying to save the 'aina, the land, and our cultural sites for the mo'opuna, the future. We got him on the phone. He cried. He is flying over to O'ahu to see her before she passes. When we parted, I made sure I held her hand tight. Kissed her forehead. Looked deep in her eyes. And let her know how much I loved her and that I had humbly asked Ke Akua, through my prayers, to deliver her into His hands at His will.

Later when I dropped off her son at his home, we embraced and both burst out into an unexpected cascade of tears and sobbing as we hugged. It was the kaumaha of fifteen years of knowing each other and the fights we have been through to save our 'aina. We were delivered messages. We were losing another hulu kupuna who gave years of her life to protect the bones of our ancestors. E holomua kakou. We will continue the fight. Her biggest message. We must not let the spirit of Haloa, our kalo plant, whither away and die. The rotten kalo. Just like the kino, the body, will die and rot away when the 'uhane, the spirit, leaves. So will the Hawaiian people, if we let the spirit of the kalo die. We must sustain the spirit. We must sustain. It is through Aloha. Love. Forgiveness. Truth. Pono...