The Rose of Dawn | Page 7

twilight in the door
Of their far home, with eager arms
outstretched
To welcome him from toil; how she would stand
A
queen among the other women, crowned
With crimson flowers. How
had he won her, he
A stranger to her people and her blood!
For in
her veins the stream ran pale, but, "Ah,"
He cried, "my kiss shall burn
it red again.
White she may be, a queen, my queen, she is,
And still
my slave in fetters of my love."
Uhila watched him from the shadow.
Gods!
How young he was! as
Vave, the swift-footed
Splendidly strong, an innocent god of war.

The morn with chilly lips laid myriad kisses
About his beauty,
slipped thro' jealous leaves
Dripping with silver and fantastic fingers

Reached to caress him from the amorous trees.
Hither and forth he
paced; Uhila's eyes
Ached with his hatred of the sight; at length

"Taka," Malua cried, and stretched his arms
Rigid in air, his face
against the sky.
The goad was in Uhila's soul, he leapt
Into the

moonlight and upon his foe.
Fixed to the ground, they strove as giant
trees
Tossing fierce branches in a storm; their wrath
Smote on them
like a tempest, hot with hate.
Malua knew a curse was in the hands

That sought his throat, and in the blazing eyes
Close to his own. Life
would defend fair life
As chief and Taka's lover. Round the shoulders

Dark and strong, straining to his heaving breast,
He threw his arms,
and locked in that embrace
They stood a moment, breathing with the
quick
Sharp catch of weary runners. Then a turn--
Raising his knee,
Uhila strove in vain
To throw his enemy. Upon their heads
And
swaying bodies lay the silver light
Of the bright moon. The great
night seemed to pause
Chin upon hand to watch the struggle, air

Hushed to retain the hoarse and laboring sobs
Such strain brought
forth. Their shining bodies, oiled
In honor of the feast, granted no
hold
To the fierce gripping arms.
Then suddenly
Uhila sprang aside and grasped a branch,
A rough,
harsh weapon--for they were unarmed.
Wary they watched each
other's eyes, like beasts
Stealthy, retreating, circling with heads low,

Bodies bent for the catch. Malua sprang
Close to Uhila, caught his
murderous hand,
And with the branch between them, all its thorns

Tearing their breasts, they strove once more. The moon
Glittered in
troubled ripples, they had come
Under the shadow of the trees, the
dark
Goaded Uhila's soul anew, his blood,
Blazing with conflict,
gave him mad-man's strength
And devil's skill. His straining form
relaxed,
Heavily slipping earthward; ere Malua
Could gain fresh
hold upon his fainting foe,
Uhila with a twist had laid him low,

Knee on his breast, lean fingers at his throat
Seizing his life.
Malua's eyes grew dim,
The gentle stars seen faint thro' hanging
leaves

Wavered uncertainly; his brain seemed black,
Confused with
horrid death, the dewy moss
He lay on failed beneath him. Suddenly

Hanging upon the brittle rim of death,
His outstretched hand,
gripping the scattered leaves,
Closed on a sharp stone, instinct more

than brain
Showed him the way; he raised his weapon, struck
And
struck and struck again.
The night looked down
Waning, and saw
thro' tangled boughs a still,
Dead figure on the troubled earth. All
stained
With crimson blood, there lay a crimson wreath,
And thro'
the forest stole a dusky shade
Fleeing he knew not where save that he
'scaped
Death, that was lying by the forest pool.
At dawn the weary boy, who thro' the night
Had cried his love and
anguish to the dark,
Wandering half crazed thro' forest deeps
unknown,
Feeling upon his throat the hand of hate,
Feeling upon
his heart the still more potent
Fingers of love, came to the open shore

Waiting for day. The restless, eager foam,
Stretching white arms
around the sleeping earth,
Woke his great love anew. The loneliness

Of open spaces set his hungry soul
Dreaming of Taka, Taka who
should come
And fill the empty world for him. The sky
Paled at the
thought. The dawn was stealing near,
Glimmering faintly on the edge
of night.
He could delay no longer; like a thief
He must secure his
jewel in the dark.
In the vast pause that presages the morn
He came
to Taka's door. Ajar it stood,
And on the mats within he saw revealed

The pure young oval of her perfect face.
"Taka, my little one,"
Malua whispered,
And thro' her dreams "Malua" passed her lips,

Slipping insensibly to waking. So
She saw him at the door and came
to him,
Her dewy dreams still warm within her eyes,
And gave her
face to passionate caress.
Then with soft, broken words he told again

His love, and after when her heart was full
Of glad acceptance, as a
flash of fire
Searing his image on her soul, he told
How blood had
paid the price of love.
She heard,

And daylight ebbed before her eyes to faint
White mist,
then refluent turned and smote
Her heart's eyes with the horror of the
truth.
Uhila dead. Uhila with the smile
That woke for her alone. Her
thoughts, like leaves
Blown by cold winds, were scattered, and the
words
"Uhila dead" was but a symbol grim
Of darkness. All the

past, her happy life
Flower in the sun, her home, and all the dear

Familiar duties, all her life to come
Woven with thoughts