This is my favorite poem, given to me by a friend many years ago in Sweden. It captured my longing for home and the Ko’olau in Hawai’i and yet, comforted me in knowing, realizing, that I do indeed carry the Ko’olau within me.

My Help is in the mountain
Where I take myself to heal
The earthly wounds
That people give to me.
I find a rock with sun on it
And a stream where the water runs gentle
And the trees which one by one give me company.
So must I stay for a long time
Until I have grown from the rock
And the stream is running through me
And I cannot tell myself from one tall tree.
Then I know that nothing touches me
Nor makes me run away.
My help is in the mountain
That I take away with me.