William Kelii Kekaula Poet Lyric

Notes About The Poem

My Yesterday

Yesterday, Oh, I believe in yesterday—Lennon-McCartney (The Beatles) 
I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day—Smokey Robinson/Bobby Rogers (Smokey Robinson & The Miracles) 
I see trees of green—Bob Thiele & George David Weiss (Louis Armstrong) 

Hardships and misfortunes 
emerged to be a distant memory
But as my thoughts look back 
It seems to reflect a well-told story
When Spring comes to L.A.
Before the month of May
I guess you’d like to say
What makes you feel this way
My girl helps make this day
Red roses true
Flowers bloom blue
The song I sing
A stunning thing

I am just a human
A natural being
Flesh and bone essences
Not an all-seeing thing
A simple citizen
To this land and country
Just one in a million
For life and liberty
Rainbow hues plus
Auspicious light
Skips before us
Rippling and tight

Love was an easy game
Many places to hide
We’ll seek and find your name
As telltale signs to guide
One way they had to go
Was one they did not know
Something they wouldn’t say
Belong to yesterday
Sweet birdsongs sing
Rejoicing bring
This wondrous earth
A new day’s birth

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Jay Narain January 13, 2026 at 11:30 AM This poem wears its heart openly and deliberately aligns itself with the tradition of popular song—not as pastiche, but as philosophy. It values melody, repetition, color, and emotional accessibility over irony or compression. That’s a conscious aesthetic choice, and the poem succeeds on its own terms. If there’s one guiding quality here, it’s gratitude without nostalgia’s bitterness. Yesterday is remembered, but today is still singing. William Kelii Kekaula January 13, 2026 at 2:02 PM An eloquent critique and much-enjoyed review that resonates within my heart, like Yesterday, thank you, William.