The evening bells have just rung for evening prayer.
Our prayer tonight is
that of gratitude
that our family and neighbours are safe.
But our hearts
are with those families
who can not say the same,
who will sleep tonight
without a son,
a daughter,
a mother,
a father,
an uncle,
an aunt,
a cousin.
Their loss is our loss.
Even the night birds feel it.
~ Sia Figel
Even the night birds feel it
your words
swim the sky
and through
red feather clouds
and blood tears
i know that we are
connected
even in our disconnectedness
of space
~ Frances Koya
even in our disconnectedness
of space
the whole of Samoa is on its knees
Samoa in Aotearoa
Samoa in Fiji
Samoa in Amerika
Samoa in Hawai’i
praying and
swallowing salt tears
swallowing time
shoes and soles of feet
swallowing bones and lives and sheet
memories of the day before Wednesday
swallowing distance and space
swallowing our sea memories
to taste this pain
that is ours
~ Selina T. Marsh
To taste this pain that is ours
To remember one’s heart is there
On that day in September
At the earliest hour
They watched the sea disappear
The bay empty like a valley
The sea rush back in a moan
Took the weaver from her fale
Took the child from warm arms
Took the elder from his family
Took the sleeper from her sleep
The blue deep, deep moana
There at the sacred heart of us
That echoes through each of us
When the panic madness falls
And the calm tide breathes
With all Samoa everywhere
With all of Tonga too
Remember your hearts there
And my heart too
~ Dan Taulapapa McMullin
And my heart too,
along with yours.
We are reminded
in the most brutal way
that we are all connected.
We are reminded
in the most brutal way,
that our relationship
with the ocean
is never
on our
own terms.
We are reminded
in the most brutal way
why dominion over nature
was never a part
of our epistemology.
We are reminded
in the most brutal way
why we know ourselves to be
simply a part
of a sacred continuum
of sacred relationships
where even
the ocean is alive,
where even
the night birds feel,
where even
the rocks have spirit,
where even
the blood red clouds
know why they are red.
We are reminded
in the most brutal way
the balance of life betweenÂ
is sacred, va tapuia,
endlessly interconnected
across distance, space, time, species, life, death.
We are reminded
in the most brutal way
why long before
Christ arrived
on these shores
we have always been
a people of spirit
a people of faith.
~ Karlo Mila
A people of faith
A people
A people of
A people of faith
Faavae i le atua
They said
God will protect us
They said
Samoa is founded on God.
O children of the great and mighty Fofoaivaoese
Those of us who watch, and listen
from the great watery expanses of all the corners of the earth
hear Samoa’s cry
Fofoaivaoese will not desert you Samoa
For even now the groundswell of love, support and prayers
Wave after wave after wave will crash on the very same tear-filled shores
which tore our worlds assunder
and will overcome, embrace and lift up our people, our aiga, our villages…our Samoa.
from despair and devastation
Do not grieve Samoa,
Outou, mataou, tatou…
With one hand we will hold on to the ancient words and wisdom of our ancestors
And with the other we will grasp the almighty power of Le Atua
As we people of faith
Calmly but surely…do what we have to do
Do
Do what
Do what we
Have to do
To remain…
People of faith
People of the Vao ese
We are here, watching, listening
And waiting…..
~ Melani Anae
We are here, watching, listening
And waiting …
Waiting for the sun to lick our wounds dry
Waiting for the breeze to untie the knotted memory
Left ,Swept in by Moana
Aueeee, our fathers cry
Aueee, our mothers cry
Auee, our children cry
Aue, we all cry
We cry salted tears
We cry silent fear
We cry mournful alofa
For our people
We cry, Aue…. We cry!
~ Allan Alo
We cry, Aue…. We cry!
The strongest of the strong cry
Through the push and pull of the tides
And waves of pain and agony
that crash against the shore of our wounded hearts
we cry, Aue…
We cry
We cry tears of blood
that flow deep through the sea of sorrow
flow with the whispers of our soft prayers ascending above the clouds
and settle beyond the depths of our soul
It is there
that our tears have dried
dried into a grain of salt
a grain of salt called faith,
the one thing we continue to hold on to
for faith, isn’t faith
until it is all that we have left to hold on to
it is what will wipe the tears of the strongest cry
give us comfort in the night
allow the warm rays of the sun to brush upon our skin
push and pull the greatest memories of love with that of the tides
heal the waves of wounded hearts
lost in the sea of sorrow
dry our tears
and carry us into tomorrow…
~ Christina Pelesasa
The now calm and perfect seas do not answer me
When I ask why you have taken my loved ones
To never return
You, earth beneath the oceans, do not answer me
When I ask why, you sneezed, and caused the sea to
Tremble
And release her power on my helpless people
Did you sky, issue a warning in your many colours
And I did not know
Did you birds try to tell me, in your cries and flying patterns
And I could not read it
Did you waves and trees try to tell me
That the earth was about to move
And I could not hear nor see your message
Aueeeee…
Aueeeee…
Aueeeee…
~Tepora Afamasaga
“Let go, let go” he whispered
But he couldn’t really mean it
and reached out to hold them as well,
his children, his life.
One was dead with sand in his eyes
One was alive with death in her gaze
holding her little brother close to her heart,
for ever and ever.
Emma Kruse Vaai
See BBC link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/8286485.stm
Saumaiafe & the ghazal singer 
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