*The 2026 Ka Hana Kaulana staff chose this poem as one creative work to submit to the National Scholastic Press Association’s Individual Awards contest.

I wrote this while I was in the middle of doing my early college homework late at night. I’ve had this feeling of dread in the back of my mind ever since school started and most of it has been due to the current state of the world, but more precisely how our country is at the moment. It’s hard to think about my future sometimes, when the world feels like I might not have one, but oh well. We live and go on.