Page:Ballads, Stevenson, 1890.djvu/20

 Vale of the strong Honoura, deep ravine of Pai,

Again in your woody summits I hear the trade-wind cry.

House of mine, in your walls, strong sounds the sea,

Of all sounds on earth, dearest sound to me.

I have heard the applause of men, I have heard it arise and die:

Sweeter now in my house I hear the trade-wind cry.

These were the words of his singing, other the thought of his heart;

For secret desire of glory vexed him, dwelling apart.

Lazy and crafty he was, and loved to lie in the sun,

And loved the cackle of talk and the true word uttered in fun;

Lazy he was, his roof was ragged, his table was lean,

And the fish swam safe in his sea, and he gathered the near and the green.

He sat in his house and laughed, but he loathed the king of the land,

And he uttered the grudging word under the covering hand.

Treason spread from his door; and he looked for a day to come,

A day of the crowding people, a day of the summoning drum,

When the vote should be taken, the king be driven forth in disgrace,

And Rahéro, the laughing and lazy, sit and rule in his place.

Here Támatéa came, and beheld the house on the brook;

And Rahéro was there by the way and covered an oven to cook.3

Naked he was to the loins, but the tattoo covered the lack,

And the sun and the shadow of palms dappled his muscular back. 8