The Rose of Dawn | Page 6

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 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,