They say that Maui nō ka ‘oi, and I,
once upon a time, agreed, when we
didn’t have to fight the snake of tourist buses
choking the Hana Highway, a simpler time I
want to recover, when I can go back,
brave traffic to sit beside the seaside at Hana,
fertile ground for fairy tale recollection,
images faded lace and gauze with time,
so many years camped there, my family and I,
fishing with my father, my mother singing,
cooking over a campfire, glowing, the ghosts I’ll see
sitting with me, picturing the way it was
in the days when Maui really was the best,
my journey back in memory of a happily ever after.
Lanning Lee 