The Folding Cliffs

Climbing in the dark she felt the small stones turn
along the spine of the path whose color kept rising in her mind
burned-in color moment of rust dried blood color other color
gone color by day and she knew what color was there
when she could not see it and when one of the stars was the darkness
Before any breath of daylight and the way was in her feet again
the star of Kao'ea rushed between clouds when the dawn wind
came toward her down across the ridges of the mountain
carrying the scent of water from the peak of Waialeale
-- "The Folding Cliffs: A narrative of 19th-century Hawaii" by W.S. Merwin