“Ode to Mauna Kea”
They want a shining summit on top of Mauna Kea
and they’ll say that you’re anti-science
if you’re in defiance of ignorance aimed at Hawaiians
but who understands the stars more than Kanaka Maoli?
We’re crazy to think governments have good intent
and that peace was why America sent people to the moon.
It’s all about rich exploiting poor
and sure, there’s more to it than that, but not a lot.
We’ve poisoned our blue-green dot now we’ll shoot for the stars,
trying to be the first to colonize Mars.
There’s no reason to trust anything good will come from this telescope
sure, we can all hope but our taxes buy the rope used to hang cultures
out to dry, as Mother Earth is still sliced like a pineapple
so a few bad men can add more zeros, can add more of this sacred mountain to the legacy of Cook, so we can find more places to exploit
for resources, for money, all in the name of wealth and greed
but I suppose it makes sense, we have to honor our God
so we’ll prostitute the soul of those we conquer
and teach them about Elvis Presley instead of George Helm.
We’ll teach them about white navigators like Columbus and Cook,
we’ll tell them they need to look at the stars,
but we’re fireflies in jars trying to enlighten them,
we’re just a street lamp believing that we can enlighten the moon
we’re singing out of tune, while they are in chorus with nature,
with the land, the water, the stars and the sky,
and it’s a blatant lie to say that the key to the future
is held by the same people who monetized the planet,
who have filled oceans with plastic,
and filled the world with starvation and warfare.
No, we don’t deserve a closer look at the stars
especially not from there
“Call me a radical for I refuse to remain idle. I will not have the foreigner prostitute the soul of my being, and I will not make a whore out of my soul (my culture).”-George Jarrett Helm Jr.
soitgoes1984 