This is a poem I wrote during my time at Seminar By The Sea about the Queen of Hawaii and how the colonization of Hawaii affected her.

* * *

She cried out to a God,

that she grew to love,

although He was not originally known to her

kin.

Her choker coming to life,

a serpent squeezing tightly around

a delicate neck,

raw impressions

form discolored imprints

slowly closing airways,

her vision turning into whiteness,

A heart fading into the deep

catacombs of her chest.

The mundane

possessions she used to adore,

now guards

that taunt her existence.

The old wooden door

that leads to her chambers

Now morphs into ugly

rusty metal bars

gone mad

As she claws her fingernails

deep into the carvings.

wood hollowed

out with bloody fingernails

red crimson tears dripping down

The door frame

Itching for escape

through the cracks of the floorboards.

Christ suffered,

She is suffering.

Christ was crucified for the sake of mankind,

She was crucified for the sake of her people.

Christ embraced his fate,

She embraced her prison.

Christ rose from the dead,

She will rise from her downfall.

Through the pain

And suffering

Peace will be found.

She forgave the foreigners

their malevolence

she asked Him for their forgiveness

and to lift

them up into the caress of His

wings.

Let peace allow us to take flight

through the pastel skies

of this land

now and forever.

Amama.