Part 3 (2/2)

Love, love, beloved Rua, love levels all degrees, And the well-tattooed Taheia clings panting to your knees.”

”-Taheia, song of the morning, how long is the longest love?

A cry, a clasp of the hands, a star that falls from above!

Ever at morn in the blue, and at night when all is black, Ever it skulks and trembles with the hunter, Death, on its track.

Hear me, Taheia, death! For to-morrow the priest shall awake, And the names be named of the victims to bleed for the nation's sake; And first of the numbered many that shall be slain ere noon, Rua the child of the dirt, Rua the kinless loon.

For him shall the drum be beat, for him be raised the song, For him to the sacred High-place the chaunting people throng, For him the oven smoke as for a speechless beast, And the sire of my Taheia come greedy to the feast.”

”Rua, be silent, spare me. Taheia closes her ears.

Pity my yearning heart, pity my girlish years!

Flee from the cruel hands, flee from the knife and coal, Lie hid in the deeps of the woods, Rua, sire of my soul!”

”Whither to flee, Taheia, whither in all of the land?

The fires of the b.l.o.o.d.y kitchen are kindled on every hand; On every hand in the isle a hungry whetting of teeth, Eyes in the trees above, arms in the brush beneath.

Patience to lie in wait, cunning to follow the sleuth, Abroad the foes I have fought, and at home the friends of my youth.”

”Love, love, beloved Rua, love has a clearer eye, Hence from the arms of love you go not forth to die.

There, where the broken mountain drops sheer into the glen, There shall you find a hold from the boldest hunter of men; There, in the deep recess, where the sun falls only at noon, And only once in the night enters the light of the moon, Nor ever a sound but of birds, or the rain when it falls with a shout; For death and the fear of death beleaguer the valley about.

Tapu it is, but the G.o.ds will surely pardon despair; Tapu, but what of that? If Rua can only dare.

Tapu and tapu and tapu, I know they are every one right; But the G.o.d of every tapu is not always quick to smite.

Lie secret there, my Rua, in the arms of awful G.o.ds, Sleep in the shade of the trees on the couch of the kindly sods, Sleep and dream of Taheia, Taheia will wake for you; And whenever the land wind blows and the woods are heavy with dew, Alone through the horror of night, {72} with food for the soul of her love, Taheia the undissuaded will hurry true as the dove.”

”Taheia, the pit of the night crawls with treacherous things, Spirits of ultimate air and the evil souls of things; The souls of the dead, the stranglers, that perch in the trees of the wood, Waiters for all things human, haters of evil and good.”

”Rua, behold me, kiss me, look in my eyes and read; Are these the eyes of a maid that would leave her lover in need?

Brave in the eye of day, my father ruled in the fight; The child of his loins, Taheia, will play the man in the night.”

So it was spoken, and so agreed, and Taheia arose And smiled in the stars and was gone, swift as the swallow goes; And Rua stood on the hill, and sighed, and followed her flight, And there were the lodges below, each with its door alight; From folk that sat on the terrace and drew out the even long Sudden crowings of laughter, monotonous drone of song; The quiet pa.s.sage of souls over his head in the trees; {74} And from all around the haven the crumbling thunder of seas.

”Farewell, my home,” said Rua. ”Farewell, O quiet seat!

To-morrow in all your valleys the drum of death shall beat.”

III. THE FEAST

DAWN as yellow as sulphur leaped on the naked peak, And all the village was stirring, for now was the priest to speak.

Forth on his terrace he came, and sat with the chief in talk; His lips were blackened with fever, his cheeks were whiter than chalk; Fever clutched at his hands, fever nodded his head, But, quiet and steady and cruel, his eyes shone ruby-red.

In the earliest rays of the sun the chief rose up content; Braves were summoned, and drummers; messengers came and went; Braves ran to their lodges, weapons were s.n.a.t.c.hed from the wall; The commons herded together, and fear was over them all.

Festival dresses they wore, but the tongue was dry in their mouth, And the blinking eyes in their faces skirted from north to south.

Now to the sacred enclosure gathered the greatest and least, And from under the shade of the banyan arose the voice of the feast, The frenzied roll of the drum, and a swift, monotonous song.

Higher the sun swam up; the trade wind level and strong Awoke in the tops of the palms and rattled the fans aloud, And over the garlanded heads and s.h.i.+ning robes of the crowd Tossed the spiders of shadow, scattered the jewels of sun.

Forty the tale of the drums, and the forty throbbed like one; A thousand hearts in the crowd, and the even chorus of song, Swift as the feet of a runner, trampled a thousand strong.

And the old men leered at the ovens and licked their lips for the food; And the women stared at the lads, and laughed and looked to the wood.

As when the sweltering baker, at night, when the city is dead, Alone in the trough of labour treads and fas.h.i.+ons the bread; So in the heat, and the reek, and the touch of woman and man, The naked spirit of evil kneaded the hearts of the clan.

Now cold was at many a heart, and shaking in many a seat; For there were the empty baskets, but who was to furnish the meat?

For here was the nation a.s.sembled, and there were the ovens anigh, And out of a thousand singers nine were numbered to die.

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