ka waihoʻoluʻu melemele

Only Yellow

After the din of tending bees stills, cradling secrets in liquid amber arms,

sweet and fragrant

"Only yellow, as if coaxing sunshine into the inner hammocks of solitude,

After evaluating the artifacts and detrius, a caucophony of emotions 

silver etchings marking a harmonious score of this existence,

Accumulated all these tired things in the narrow canoe along the wide honest path,

A deep-dive archaeological dig that sees with inner eyes through the koa,

Through the canoe and into the fathomless salty mother, nature's tendrils that tether wonder to the secrets of the deep, 

Unlocked, unburdened, unhinged, and open,

Kelpen ropes,

The sound of sirens,

Turtles leading us home,

Stirrings, and hauntings, easings, and releasings, their voices like ancestral echoes in the attic of dusty spider webs catching dank thoughts,

It comes, a beacon in the vast darkness of contemplation,

The calm, like a bold dragonfly alighting on the petals of a still soul,

Contentment,

Happiness even, the bite of the fledgling scrub jay tickling the fancy of shared nurturance

The urge to pick up a paintbrush and paint sparks,

The mind's eye unveils a single task, a spark from the process of unburdening, unearthing, caring, and tending, 

Yellow,

Only yellow, coaxing sunshine onto a canvas brimming with silence and solitude, unmarked and asking.

It is an image, an impulse, to paint a single piece of paper yellow,

And so it is, in the long book, with long lazy strokes,

Water and pigment,

Mindful stroke after mindful stroke,

Yellow, cadmium yellow medium to be exact,

While her relatives whisper in the eaves, their voices like ancestral echoes in the attic of chitter chatter of ʻaumakua aloha, eager for discovery.

[Melemele, lena, ʻōlena, ʻōlenalena, lenalena. Also: mālena, pualena, kamalena, mele, memele, pua hau; pala (as leaves). Pale yellow, hālena, pia, hēpia, nāʻū. Golden yellow, pala luhiehu. Reddish-yellow, pala ʻehu. To begin to turn yellow, hāʻama.]

Melemele, cadmium melemele medium e pololei,

ʻOiai ʻo kona mau ʻohana e hāwanawana ana i ka ʻea e makemake nui e ʻike."

Melemele Wale No

Only Yellow

only yellow

after the din of tending bees stills

after evaluating the artifacts and detrius

accumulated in this canoe

a deep-dive archaeological dig 

out of the canoe and into the fathomless mother

stirrings, and hauntings, easings, and releasings

it comes

the calm

contentment

happiness even

the urge to pick up a paintbrush and paint sparks

the minds eye reveals a single task

yellow

only yellow

paint a single piece of paper yellow

and so it is, in the long book, with long lazy strokes

water and pigment

mindful stroke after mindful stroke

yellow, cadmium yellow medium to be exact

while her relatives whisper in the eaves eager for discovery. 

(lena, olena, olenalena, lenalena, málena, pualena, kamalena, mele, flower snow; pala, halena, beer, hepia, nāu, pala luheheu, pala ehue, haama.)

(draft one)