Witnessing by Travel

By Adil Musabji

I don’t think I would ever get tired of teal.  About
twenty years ago, I hiked Diamond Head with my

wife, and now I’m hiking the Waihee Ridge Trail,
with her and our three daughters – lush green rippling

down thousands of feet to teal waters, glistening as
waterfalls stand still in the distance, boundless glory

in the middle of the Pacific, boundless but not bare. 
Besides the nature, the best thing about hiking in

Hawaii is getting shave ice afterwards – shave ice,
not shaved ice, I’m not sure if it’s a tradition, we did

it after Diamond Head and now we’re doing it again,
sharing fluffy, powdery ice laced with sweet colored

syrups – joyful coolness massaging away the heat on
our skins and pain in our muscles, I think this is the

definition of refreshing – so simple, what else do you
need?  My nine-year-old has the largest smile but

mine may be larger.  After another bite, the melting
cold lining my throat,

I remember Husayn,

 

far away,

and the little girls in his camp,

and I feel the heat once more.