Page:Ballads, Stevenson, 1890.djvu/37

 And the fire bit to the blood and mangled his hands and thighs;

And the fumes sang in his head like wine and stung in his eyes;

And still he climbed, and came to the top, the place of proof,

And thrust a hand through the flame, and clambered alive on the roof.

But even as he did so, the wind, in a garment of flames and pain,

Wrapped him from head to heel; and the waistcloth parted in twain;

And the living fruit of his loins dropped in the fire below.

About the blazing feast-house clustered the eyes of the foe,

Watching, hand upon weapon, lest ever a soul should flee,

Shading the brow from the glare, straining the neck to see.

Only, to leeward, the flames in the wind swept far and wide,

And the forest sputtered on fire; and there might no man abide.

Thither Rahéro crept, and dropped from the burning eaves,

And crouching low to the ground, in a treble covert of leaves

And fire and volleying smoke, ran for the life of his soul

Unseen; and behind him under a furnace of ardent coal,

Cairned with a wonder of flame, and blotting the night with smoke,

Blazed and were smelted together the bones of all his folk.

He fled unguided at first; but hearing the breakers roar,

Thitherward shaped his way, and came at length to the shore.

Sound-limbed he was: dry-eyed; but smarted in every part;

And the mighty cage of his ribs heaved on his straining heart

With sorrow and rage. And "Fools!" he cried, "fools of Vaiau,

Heads of swine—gluttons—Alas! and where are they now? 25