The Rose of Dawn | Page 6

his disdain,
His heart strikes silver lightning,

Their warm tears stir the flowers like rain.
"The breath of love is in his hair,
He needs no crimson necklaces

To win the fairest of the fair."
Another sang of the sad mothers, lone
In their dark homes at evening,
while beyond
The limitless twilight on some field of war
Their
hearts lie dead.
"O my men, my men!
Keen in the rain and sunshine
For glorious

splendid deeds,
You are gathered as idle weeds.
"O my men, my men!
The mighty gods were jealous,
Your virtues
shone like a star;
The enemy came from afar!
"O my men, my men!
Vengeance shall follow soon,
Your people
shall blast the foe
Or ever the cold winds blow.
"O my men, my men!
My life is an empty shell,
No one has heard
my moan,
I sit in the dark alone."
Then of the gods they sang,--a moonlight song:
"Sleep, O soft little winds,
Restless whispering grass,
Reeds of the
water-ways sway not,
Sleep, that the gods may pass.
"Deepen, you dreams of the sleepers,
Veil you, O fire of the moon.

Darken, you silver of stars,
Sleep, for the gods come soon.
"Sleep, for the gods who sleep not
Pass on the midnight's breath;

Mystical, magical, secret,
Sleep, for to wake is death."
And after singing came the dance; the brown
Lithe women decked
with bright fantastic hues
Wavered into the circle of the light.

Kneeling, they wove their spells. As gracious flowers
Swayed by the
winds of evening, they were blown
By breezes of desire. The eye was
filled
With luxury of soft motion and the sound
Of soft monotonous
chanting charmed the ear.
Then in their midst came Taka, and she
stood,
Waiting the signal. Slow she raised her arms,
Slow as tho'
ages hung upon her hands
Heavy with burdened love. The music
hushed.
Deep in the mystery of her steady eyes
Lingered the secret
of the world, and then
Laughter and light came dancing from her
smile.
Her fingers fluttered on the harp of love,
And every chord
uttered itself again
Within some dusky heart. The earth was still.

The warm night air was strong with heavy scent
Of oil upon the

dancers and the flowers
That decked their breasts and hair. Malua's
soul
Fainted beneath the load of so much love,
And when the dance
was finished, and her eyes
Held him for one long second ere she
smiled
And stole away, he knew for death or life
His spirit lay
within her golden hands.
Woe for Uhila! As the twilight glow
Faded in soft immeasurable
plains
Of darkness, so the beauty in his heart
Faded in clouds of
wrath. The great fire blazed--
A ruby in the raven hair of night--

And clear across the flames Uhila saw
His rival, garlanded with
blossoms, pale,
Calm as a happy lover. Could he smile
Over his
empty hands and meekly bow--
Uhila bow!--to taste a stranger's whip!

Death snapped the sparks, and Vengeance hurled the flames.
Like
blood the fire fell o'er the bare young heart,
And he who watched in
one mad bound foresaw
How blood indeed might flash across that
breast.
The high resolve grew dim in that fierce light,
"'Tis noble,
strong;" then, in a stab of keen
Humor, he saw again a native brave

Decking his naked body with the coat
Crowned with the hat of some
sea-faring man,--
Aping the civilization of his stride
Till his new
prowess fell to comrade's jeers.
So with a tiger heart it were to wear

A grave forgiveness of this wanton wrong.
The primal lust had
burst the slender bar,
Weak white man's morals. Now to slay and
slay.
Darkling, he fixed Malua with his eyes,
Noting each shadow of his
changing thoughts,
When the dear dreams centred on Taka, dreams

Dimming his sight. Holding his lips apart,
He slowly rose, Uhila
following,
For in the dark the music of her face
Smote on the boy
till he could bear no more
The feasting and the firelight; silently
He
rose and stole away. The night was still,
And "Taka, Taka, Taka,"
rang his soul
Against the stars. He felt infinity
Above him brood,
and knew the mighty gods,
Who once in every lifetime drop an hour

Of their remembrance fraught with godlike bliss
To luckless man,

had turned on him their eyes.
Unconsciously his feet retraced the path

To the dark pool where joy had birth that day.
The scents that wake
when the cool dusk begins
Lapped him luxuriously; the heavy sweet

Of passionate gardenia,--kiss made flower,--
White as his turbulent
love, was as the crown
And climax of the jasmine stars that breathed

His love in placid day, and when he paused
Beside the pool, the
forest held its breath.
"O sweet, O beautiful!" Malua cried,
His young eyes blazing to the
tropic night.
"Never before, since all the gods were young,
Was
woman loved as I love Taka." Then,
Caught in a very ecstasy of love,

He laid his arms about a slender tree,
White in the moonlight, and
his fevered cheek
Pressed on its cooling stem. With broken music

Shaken from his breast, he cried on Taka,--
Little happy words that
mothers whisper
Above their sleeping babes. "If love could find
A
way to utter love without her lips!"
Her lips, her eyes, the music of
her voice--
Death would be easy on her golden heart.
He pictured
her at