The Rose of Dawn | Page 4

gone before
To hold the leaves for her to pass, and softly

She came, and like a golden butterfly
Her small hand fluttered down
upon his arm.
He caught his breath as tho' the leaping blood
That
fled before this touch were very flame,
Then slowly, slowly turned,
and in her eyes
Gave up his heart's desire. No word was said.
She
knew not that she loved, he only knew
She was the moon of women;
but their hearts,
Wiser than they, had flowered into one.
Then as she
passed beneath the swinging leaves,
He caught the wreath wherewith
on Tonga's shore
The maids had crowned him "King of Love and
Beauty,"
And cast it from him with a high disdain
Of token other
than from Taka's hand.
She laughed to see it, and her step was light

Along the flowery way.
Love in this land
Grows into perfect stature as the swift
Sweet
growth of nature. In these gracious souls
Love stood full-armed,
godlike, from birth. Their lips
Whispered of life and laughter, but
their hearts,

Singing together, told each other clear:
"Ah, Love, dear Love, there is no need to say,
Catch up life's song, its
lightest, merriest word,
Pledge deep the golden sun, the breeze and

bird,
Draw down long lashes over happy eyes,
That none may guess
the light that in them lies,
Nor with what secret smile your lips are
stirred.
The moonlight is so short, so long the day,
Nay, Love, dear
Love, there is no need to say."
The whole world laughed with flowers overhead,
The sky a hollow
sapphire ached with blue,
The green bright sea gave jewels to the sun,

And all the air was love that doting earth
Breathed to the sun, her
lover.
In the midst
Two radiant gods with brave, wide eyes, and hair

Crowned with the beatific spring, they stood,--
Taka, the fair, and
young Malua, fierce,
Passionate-hearted youth, and passionate youth;

Faltering before her innocent gaze, he cried,
"Dare I adore?" so
crystal clear she seemed
A silver dewdrop in the rose of dawn.
And
Taka, trembling: "How can he be mine,
So strong, so fair, a god with
heart of flame!"
And so they strove against their hearts and lived

Long lives of hope and fear and love's sweet pain
Within a heart-beat.
But the time was near!
There in mid-forest, rimmed with leaves jade green,
All singing in the
sun,--as deep and brown
As Taka's eyes,--the pool disclosed itself.

Across the clear light of the morning, showers
Of fiery jewels shone
against the trees,--
Rubies, bright sapphires, purple amethyst,
Topaz,
fierce opal, grass-green emeralds
Flitting and darting;--were they
only birds!
Flower made bird or bird made flower, they seemed
To
eyes newborn upon a world of love.
The air was heavy with strange
scents, the old
Familiar perfumes seemed so rarely sweet,
The
jasmine was the very breath of love.
And when they rested on a
flowery bank,
And Taka wove the red hibiscus wreath
To crown
Malua, as he gazed at her,
Stretched at her feet, his chin upon his
hand,
The whole long world had waited but for this.
(_Weaving the rosy wreath._)

"My dream was of thee at sunrise


With light steps over the sea.
Lonely upon the mountain,
I woke
from my sleep for thee."
(_Weaving the rosy wreath._)
"The wild dark rocks were round me,

The flowery maids were gone;
I woke, thou--bright as lightning

Beside me--waited the dawn.
"Weaving the rosy wreath,
I weave my life in a dream.
Thou camest
through dawn on the sea,
Red flower on a sunlit stream."

(_Weaving the rosy wreath._)
She laid the scarlet wreath upon his hair.
"My King," she whispered,
and Malua's eyes--
Boy, spite of all his battles--filled with tears

Wrung from his burdened heart. He caught her hand;
The lake was
hushed with noon-tide, far away
A fond bird starred the forest with a
cry.
Then Taka turned, and in her eyes a light--
The light of summer
moon in water still--
And in her face the glamour of moon and star,

On which the crimson petals of her lips
Lay trembling, eager wings to
her new soul,
Love was confessed.
The day went swiftly on.
Malua left her side to gather fruits
For a
love feast together. In a dream
His heart had moved, and like a child
he longed
To prove it real by sweet familiar ways,
Serving his
fairest lady while their laughter
Fell on the air like music. Taka,
waiting
On the green bank his coming, told her heart:
"Not for his
beauty only, tho' his eyes
Burn into mine more beautiful than the
night,
Not for the corded muscle in his arm
Which broke a great
branch that would stay my path,
Not for his voice, a murmur of soft
seas,
Nor all the gracious ways he knows so well,
Not for his love
that breaks within his eyes,--
All these are dear, are dearer than my
life,
But for himself I love him," Taka dreamed.
"To be his sister,
nay, his mother then,
To welcome him from hunting with my eyes,


To fight his battles with the other women,
To triumph in his triumphs,
yet perchance
Be happier if when vanquished he would come
Safe

in my arms for shelter. If I might
But suffer for his sake and see him
stand
Stronger and happier--he should never guess--
But I might
sometimes touch his