Mahina Kauhi
footfalls towards bethlehem
ruth the moabitess
sired in the land of fathers
descended to bethlehem in the time of the judges
against a bulwark of tradition
she entreated naomi to let her
live in her strange country
after their men had gone the way of all the earth
on her knees, ruth swore:
thy people shall be my people
and your god, my god
naomi saw her laid-bare heart thudding redly
so they left the plains of moab, land of fathers,
land of gods, to journey to that bristling kingdom
imagine ruth kneeling before naomi,
skin pebbling with ash-colored grit
as she turned her back on a pantheon,
a dynasty of fathers, every familiar thing,
for the orange snap of a woman’s hearth
in an unfamiliar country
ruth the moabitess,
the foreigner, the widow, the woman
loved naomi, so she departed from
the dear and familiar
and walked that shingled strait,
interred their bones in the caress of new-kingdom soil1
here, i love you like this:
a spurned pantheon, a face turned away
from the fatherland and every familiar thing
god, let me walk where you do
love is the nerve to turn from the old
and make footfalls towards bethlehem
1 Ruth 1:17 (King James Version)
Mahina Kauhi is a Kanaka 'Ōiwi writer from Wahiawā. They work as a writing consultant at Leeward CC, where they head the Creative Writing Club. They enjoy playing card games, studying religion, and wearing large, fleshy combat boots even in balmy weather. Their work has been featured in Pūpū A O ʻEwa and Leeward Voices.
Photo by staff