A Queen returns

On the Diamond Head facing side of the building where On-Jin's restaurant used to be, there is this large concrete wall that is being transformed into a larger than life mural of Hawaii's last reigning monarch, Queen Lili'okalani. The piece, I recently discovered was commissioned by the building's owner and is being created by muralist, John Pugh.

Every couple days, I pass through the Ward Center area, and I look for the Queen to see how far she is coming along under the sea of blue. For some reason, this image of the Lili'okalani within this cresting large wave calls to me. Every time I drive by, I feel compelled in my body to stop and stare. And at the same time I feel as if I should stop and pay my respects. I pause to think about the ongoing construction taking place a few yards away. The irony is almost frightening. After all, under the shadow of this rising concrete, burial remains lie in the ground. And the presence of Hawaiian ancestral iwi (bones) keeps surfacing as more development keeps pressing forward in this area of town. Among barbed wire and fencing, Queen Lili'okalani's image says to me: "Stop. Remember." Today I listen. She compels me to document what I see.

II.

Two weeks ago, I went to go see the Victoria Knuebel's play Ola Na Iwi (The Bones Live). The confluence of a watching the play and witnessing the mural progress of Queen Liliokalani triggers thoughts in my mind about my own kuleana (responsibility) and mindful role and place here as a "settler" in occupied Hawaii. It also reminds me of my longing to return to my spiritual "home" to the Cordillera. And it reminds me of how I long to repatriate to the Philippines (at least temporarily) and bring my own bones back, while they are alive in a body, back to their land of origin for a blessing.