“
Did you reflect on Cook's arrival
and rue the day we were discovered
and curse the coming of foreign sailors
with bodies soaked in the blights
of London sewers?
Giving this cruel treasure to our unblemished women?
Did you think of this and rage and want to kill?
Did you remember all the insults down
the years from
French, British and American alike
Did you remember the threat of their guns?
I was not there during those dark
days of anguish and confusion
when the palace shook
with intrigue and rumor
that the greedy determined men
downtown were plotting your
ruin and demise of our nation.
--from "Manawaʻino
”
”