Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 12, 1 December 2006 — Weep No More Dry Tears [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Weep No More Dry Tears

By Victnr C. Pellegrinn Editor's note: Maui farmer, author and professor Victor PeIIegrino is a member ofHui o Nā Wai 'Ehā, a communitybased environmental organization focusing on restoring Maui's streamflow, an issue with whieh OHA has also been involved. For more information, visit restorestreamflow. org. The views expressed in this community discussion eolumn are those ofthe author and do not necessarily reflect those ofthe Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Weeping dry tears The streams of Maui are crying Wordless sounds... You have taken me away Return me, restore me Let me flow in my own natural way Give me again my gushing, rushing white waters The way I was meant to be It is the way of the gods The way of life What is right Weeping dry tears The streams of Maui are crying For life...

The 'āina is parched The 'o'opu look longingly mauka Kalo cry to be free of their dryland stranglehold Mud flats heekon for water to heeome lakes again And children want to play Yes, children want to play in the streams Laugh, jump naked into pools Find crushing waterfalls to swim under And catch fleeting 'ōpae In night's darkness Weeping dry tears The streams of Maui are crying Our kūpuna cry dry tears, too.. Give me back Waikapū Wailuku Waihe'e Waiehu Why must we repeat being victims? Let us sing again the song 'Iniki Mālie And give me my iee box back! Weeping dry tears The streams of Maui are crying About corporate greed And mankind's misuse of our streams... Being dumped Being banked

Being hoarded Being diverted Being stolen Being sold Haven't you done enough with me? Do you not feel the pain of my dry tears? The streams, the keiki, the kūpunaAll are weeping dry tears Longing for the past Singing in harmony A song about how the water and land are one Living for eaeh other Providing for others Weeping - no wailing - a song About mauka to makai Reaching for the source of life To be returned To its mouth To give birth - and rebirth - To itself in Maui's awaiting seas It is time to change weeping dry tears Into tears of joy Mālama the keiki Mālama the kūpuna Mālama the 'āina Mālama the Nā Wai 'Ehā □

— KŪKĀKŪKĀ • DISCUSSIDN FDRUM

Native HūWūiian ottorney Kapua Sproat stands on the base of a cement dam that drains all of fhe wafer from 'īoo stream on ū normal doy. - Pholo: Sterling Kini Wong