Page:Ballads, Stevenson, 1890.djvu/52

 And all the valleys of verdure were heavy with manna and musk,

The wreck of the red-eyed priest came gasping home in the dusk.

He reeled across the village, he staggered along the shore,

And between the leering tikis crept groping through his door.

There went a stir through the lodges, the voice of speech awoke;

Once more from the builded platforms arose the evening smoke.

And those who were mighty in war, and those renowned for an art

Sat in their stated seats and talked of the morrow apart.

II. THE LOVERS.

Hark! away in the woods—for the ears of love are sharp—

Stealthily, quietly touched, the note of the one-stringed harp.4

In the lighted house of her father, why should Taheia start?

Taheia heavy of hair, Taheia tender of heart,

Taheia the well-descended, a bountiful dealer in love,

Nimble of foot like the deer, and kind of eye like the dove?

Sly and shy as a cat, with never a change of face,

Taheia slips to the door, like one that would breathe a space; 40