Boni Boomer

To those of you who think I am not writing, you can rest assured that I am. But I have been so busy I have not had time to edit or revise the work I'm doing. The following was written after Rebekah, Donald, and I visited an ancient temple site high above the North Shore. It is just my way of questioning what happens when cultures meet and the mores and norms of the indigenous people are drastically altered. When haoles came to Hawaii they brought Christianity, they overthrew a ruling monarch, and they almost decimated the Hawaiian population with disease. Those of us that are Christians can't help but feel that the advent of Christianity was a godsend to the Hawiaan people. But it must have seemed to the Hawaiians that the new God was far more exacting, than their old gods, even taking human sacrifice into consideration.


When the Temples are Abandoned

When the temples are abandoned,
Who knows what unthinkable thing will arise.
When the gods cannot bring terror to our comfort,
Or comfort to our terror,
The priests will wander, without purpose.

When the oracles are silent,
Will we know to rise with the sun,
To sleep with the moon?
If every day brings a feast,
Who will celebrate the holy days?

When the gods of our fathers are just a memory,
Pray that the new God loves peace,
That He will not devour our children,
Will not take our voice or our dance.
Pray that our home will not be desecrated by strangers.