“The Folding Cliffs” (pages 281-282) by W.S. Merwin

The Shore

4.

Time had vanished since she had stood at the top of the cliff
looking down and out over the valley of Kalalau
seeing it from outside and above and then it had been
somewhere she had not seen before and now it seemed
as she looked down into it that it was her own life
out of which she had climbed and the whole valley with the clouds
and the cloud shadows passing over it was closer
than the night’s sleep that was behind her and she knew it
wherever she looked she knew what was under the trees
what was in each hollow and she stood there seeing again
what had happened in each place then carefully she
took her leave of a life that she felt was still with her
she spoke to it aloud out of the aching of her body
calling by name to one part of the cliffs and the valley
after another You Kamaile guarding the darkness
of Kane you that watch over the sleep of Ko’olau
You Kahalanui that hid us at the beginning
under you wing You Waimakemake that kept us
safe from the soldiers’ bullets I will remember you
with love until I am nothing but bones in the ground
You Koheo that embraced us and Pune’e
where we were never hungry and Limamuku
green hollow above the waterfalls into you
we had vanished when they could not find us and You curtained
cliffs of Ka’alaneo with the ridge below
that kept them from seeing us You rock face of Kalahau
that broke the flights of the bullets everywhere around us
You Oheoheiki that welcomes us and fed us
and shaded us through the hot days and kept us dry in the winter
you were like a parent to us and you Kaluamoi
that cradled us when we needed you and hid us from the hunters
where we saw the clouds blow away and the stars shining
and the waterfalls white far above us you Kalalau
where I am leaving hands and arms that I love eyes that I love
faces that I love you that hide them and keep them
I am going away now I will not set eyes on you now
you will be hidden from me now I am cold with a coldness
that was not there in the night not there until this moment
a coldness in me a coldness all around me spreading out
the thickets are tangled in Kuhonua the flowers
have fallen onto each other in piles the sea is wild
under the battering south wind the Waipao wind Kalalau
the wind at the edge shook her and she turned away