Ti mamaigo yu' la'mona

Famalao’an Micronesia, hu hasso hao la’mona.

I lay awake in my bed, thinking of the water between us.

My heart splits in two;

And the space in between is filled with dead coral and stolen phosphate.

Famalao’an Micronesia, hu hasso hao la’mona.

I stand by a crib, staring at a sleeping boy.

My veins ache;

My lifeblood has become your blue waters, sick with runoff.

Famalao’an Micronesia, hu hasso hao la’mona.

I pace over cold tile.

My feet are weary;

My toes search for your soil, earth overturned in “progress.”

Famalao’an Micronesia, hu hasso hao la’mona.

My hair is tangled.

Deep knots tug against my scalp;

My fingers get caught in the memory of a chieftess, shipped to an island not her own.

Famalao’an Micronesian, hu hasso hao, hu hasso hao.

I shed tears for what we were and what we’ve become.

Droplets fall down a “mestisa” face,

Slipping down my neck like thin rivers swimming with catfish and cancer.

Famalao’an Micronesia, hu hasso hao, hu hasso hao.

Famalao’an Micronesia, hu ågang hao la' mona.

Famalao’an Micronesia, hu hasso hao.