(North shore, Kauai)

All day we circle the base
of the thousand-foot triangular
peak at the end of the road—

the gift called Makana—
as we recognize its Bali Hai silhouette
from the distance of Makua Beach,

and, later, under its majestic shadow
as our feet traverse thousand-year-old
terraced taro patches at Limahuli.

On nearby Ke’e Beach a young woman
in a black bikini presents me with
a perfect cone shell she’s found at

the shoreline, an unexpected offering
of aloha not far from the spot where,
at sunset, we tiptoe past a young

monk seal on cooling sands
curled around a log nearly its size—
as if sleeping next to a brother—

as crickets begin their lullaby,
and night nestles in, and
the great mountain stands

its forever vigil over it all.