HARK! away in the woods—for the ears of love are sharp— Stealthily, quietly touched, the note of the one-stringed harp. {67} 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; Saunters and pauses, and looks at the stars, and lists to the seas; Then sudden and swift as a cat, she plunges under the trees. Swift as a cat she runs, with her garment gathered high, Leaping, nimble of foot, running, certain of eye; And ever to guide her way over the smooth and the sharp, Ever nearer and nearer the note of the one-stringed harp; Till at length, in a glade of the wood, with a naked mountain above, The sound of the harp thrown down, and she in the arms of her love. “Rua,”—“Taheia,” they cry—“my heart, my soul, and my eyes,” And clasp and sunder and kiss, with lovely laughter and sighs, “Rua!”—“Taheia, my love,”—“Rua, star of my night, Clasp me, hold me, and love me, single spring of delight.” And Rua folded her close, he folded her near and long, The living knit to the living, and sang the lover’s song: _Night_, _night it is_, _night upon the palms_. _Night_, _night it is_, _the land wind has blown_. _Starry_, _starry night_, _over deep and height_; _Love_, _love in the valley_, _love all alone_. “Taheia, heavy of hair, a foolish thing have we done, To bind what gods have sundered unkindly into one. Why should a lowly lover have touched Taheia’s skirt, Taheia the well-descended, and Rua child of the dirt?” “—On high with the haka-ikis my father sits in state, Ten times fifty kinsmen salute him in the gate; Round all his martial body, and in bands across his face, The marks of the tattooer proclaim his lofty place. I too, in the hands of the cunning, in the sacred cabin of palm, {69} Have shrunk like the mimosa, and bleated like the lamb; Round half my tender body, that none shall clasp but you, For a crest and a fair adornment go dainty lines of blue. Love, love, beloved Rua, love levels all degrees, And the well-tattooed Taheia clings panting to your knees.”