Palauan Culture - Hermana Ramarui

Culture!
Maintain it, they say.
I say, please tell me.
What is Palauan culture?

Palauan culture is
A state of being.
It is people
Living and growing.
 

Palauan culture
Is alive.
It is now, not
Yesterday or before.

Palauan culture
Of yesterday is death,
Because it runs short
Of the needs of today,
Of Palauan people
Who live today.
These people are culture.
 

Treat the past
As it suppose to be
Our folly is that
We try to recreate
By trying to duplicate
The impractical past
Whose songs are
Out of tune.

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Hermana Ramarui (20th century) Palau

Source: Analysis of Meaning,Content and Style: poetry from the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau by Kimberly Kay Au, Pacific Islands Studies Plan B Masters Projects, 1991