The Rose of Dawn

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Title: The Rose of Dawn
A Tale of the South Sea
Author: Helen Hay
Illustrator: John La Farge
Release Date: August 7, 2006 [EBook #19005]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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OF DAWN ***
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[Illustration]

THE ROSE OF DAWN
A TALE OF THE SOUTH SEA
By HELEN HAY
With a Drawing by
JOHN LA FARGE

NEW YORK
R. H. RUSSELL
MDCCCCI

Copyright, 1901, by
R. H. RUSSELL
University Press John Wilson and Son
Cambridge, U.S.A.

THE ROSE OF DAWN
A TALE OF THE SOUTH SEA
Somnolent, vast, inert, the darkness lay
Waiting for dawn. Across the
ocean stirred
A luminous haze, not light, but whispering light,
So
softly yet, the islands had not heard.
The mystery of sleep was in the
trees
And on the weary stars. A little cry
That broke the silence
seemed a sacrilege.
Then thro' the palm trees glided like a ghost
A
dusky form; the curtain of the dark
Was rent with life, the forest
brought forth men.
Instinct with morning every eye was bright,
Tho' sleep so lately lay
across their lids.
No sinister intent had called them forth
Upon the
shadows. May held out her hands,
And all the men who dared the
dangerous sport
Were faring where the great bonita played,--

Strong shining fish below the mid sea waves.
Upon the beach beneath
the paling moon
The boats were launched. Amid the busy stir
One
man stood idle; as a chief might order,
He bade the youths prepare his
long canoe.
With folded arms he gravely watched the rest
And gave
them salutation haughtily.
Uhila[1] was he called, and in his veins

There ran a slender stream of northern blood.
He bore upon his old
and indolent heart,
Scarred with the sins of war, a white device.

Taka, daughter of chiefs and Fiji's pride,
Lily of maidens, was
betrothed to him;
Desirous eyes kinged him with envy's crown.
[Footnote 1: The lightning.]

Scraping across the beach the boats were launched,
And as they
touched the waves, they seemed to take
New shape and dignity with
that caress
Of little lapping ripples round the prow.
Uhila led the
fleet as one who knew
His right by reason of his age and skill.
The
little isle seemed now a sleeping maid
Kirtled in green, the beach her
snowy breast
Veined with the purple brooks that sought the sea.

Uhila watched it fade below the blue,
Crouched in the bow, his
grizzled chin in hand,
Taking his ease, while small Kuma, keen-eyed,

Famed for his daring, paddled lustily.
The dawn had not yet broken,
and the soft
Beautiful haze that veils the birth of day
Hung on the
water. Loath to break the peace,
Men gave their orders in hushed
tones, the clean
Chill of the morning wrapt their naked bodies.

Then, as a slow blush mounts the cheek, a light
Breathed from the sea,
and all the air seemed warm
As at the touch of spring, a violet streak,

A pale leaf green, a golden, and a rose
Broke in the sky, and
morning was revealed.
With a shrill cry, young Kuma raised his hand

And pointed where with dip and shriek and wheel
A flock of sea
birds hovered; all the rest
Echoed the call and bending to the paddle

Shot o'er the waves, for now the fish were gained.
Uhila grasped
his rod, and at the stern
Tossed out the shining hook, with laugh and
cheer
A glint of silver flashed, then all the air
Was gemmed with
streaming stars. They came from deeps;
From azure fairer than its
mother sky
Clouded with dazzling whitenesses of foam.
Luck to
their fishing:
Now, fair and remote
A scattered emerald from a broken chain

Lying below the bending breast of heaven,
The village had
awakened,--once again
Serene Kambara, island of the south,

Exhaled its light upon the light of heaven.
The verdure seemed to
shine with lucent green,

The red hibiscus burned with inward flame,

And in the village happy song and shout
Proclaimed the day was
fair. Blue upon blue
The bright waves glittered like a shattered star

Set in the silver crescent of the sand.
The palm trees' plume uplifted

dauntlessly
To call the morning. At the forest's brim
The day was
made alive by human flowers,
Sweet maidens who against the
emerald
Showed warm and brown in purest harmony.
The fierce
bright flame that is the tropic sea
Burned on their eyes and called
them to its heart.
Like eager sea birds they forgot the land,
And,
happy as the amorous waves, they gave
Their slim brown bodies to
the sea's embrace.
They found them driftwood and astride they leapt

The feathered breakers, one with daring skill
Curved her sweet
length to lie within the palm
Of a strong wave, and so was brought to
shore.
"Taka," they