“Dignity rests where food is shared,
the land is thanked, and family is remembered.”
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at last we learn to see
everywhere we stand
how community grows from the circle
from land and shared hands
shaping us
each one still their own
a precious gift
carried through family and memory
that is dignity
i ka hopena, aʻo kākou e ʻike
ma nā wahi a pau a kākou e kū ai
pehea e ulu ai ke kaiāulu mai ka pōʻai
mai ka ʻāina a me nā lima hāʻawi
e kālai ana iā kākou
he kū hoʻokahi nō hoʻi kēlā me kēia
he makana waiwai
i lawe ʻia i loko o ka ʻohana a me ka hoʻomanaʻo
ʻo ia ka hanohano
Dignity (hanohano, ʻohana)
We recognize one another
by the dignity we see in the other.
It shows itself
in how we respect boundaries
and how we keep them.
Across time and distance,
dignity remains,
without fading.
And yet, every person knows
the troubling thought
of not being worthy enough.
When farewell comes,
it becomes clear
how much dignity truly matters –
more than possessions,
more than influence.
It reaches further
than a single lifetime.
Dignity grows deeper
through lived experience,
through what a person has carried
through the years –
unless they were broken.
Through hardship,
through being stripped of dignity,
until the memory fades
of who one once was.
Love is lived everywhere.
Only when love takes the lead
does suffering lose its hold.
Then dignity
can be seen again.
