Bridegroom. "Love sought long before he found her, Ne'er was love like ours! Long he sought her, E'er he caught her. But he found her There, and bound her With his fadeless flowers." "Gaily sporting, Pleasure courting, Nought know we of care or sorrow. We are free As sun and sea, What care we what comes to-morrow_?" Louder still and louder, Pele roars within her lake of fire, And the youths and maidens trembling look in fear up Mauna Loa, Dreading sight of that grim figure stalking down the mountain side; For when Pele claims her victims none the summons may avoid. Pele calls for whom she chooses--whom she chooses goes,--and dies. See! He comes! They start in terror. There, along the mountain side, Death comes stalking, slowly, surely,--_Pele must be satisfied_. Which among them will he summon, with his dreadful pointing finger? All their hearts become as water, all their faces blanch with fear, Deaths they suffer in the waiting, while dread Death draws near. Now he stands in dreadful menace, seeking with a baleful eye For the sweetest and the fairest--for the meetest sacrifice. "Choose, O choose!"--they cry in terror; "choose your victim and be gone, For we each die deaths while waiting, till dread Pele's choice be known! Choose your victim, Priest of Pele, choose your victim and be gone!" Slowly points the dreadful finger, marks the newly-wedded bride; All the rest, save one, fall from her, as the living from the dead. From the first of time's beginnings Pele ne'er has been gainsayed; Pele chooses whom she chooses, each and all the choice abide, For the common good and safety,--_Pele must be satisfied_! Still the mountain reels and shudders, still the awful thunders peal, Like a snake the ruthless finger holds them all in terror still; One is there whose life is broken, parted from his chosen bride, But the threatening finger, heedless of the lives it may divide, Lights upon a tiny maiden,--_Pele must be satisfied_! Slow, the grim high-priest of Pele turns to climb the mountain side; Slow, the victims turn and follow,--_Pele must be satisfied_. And the rest shrink, dumb and helpless, daring not to lift an eye, And beyond, the labouring mountain cracks and belches living fires, Till the island reels and shudders at dread Pele's agonies. But a greater one than Pele walked the mountain side that day;-- To them, climbing, dumb and dim-eyed--like a flash of heavenly flame, Swift and bright as saving angel, fair Kapiolani came, Swiftly as a saving angel, gleaming like a heavenly flame, Thirsting like a sword for battle, fair Kapiolani came. Radiant with the faith of martyrs, all aglow with new-born zeal, Burning to release the people from the bondage and the thrall, From the deadly thrall of Pele, from the ever-threatening doom, From the everlasting menace, from the awful lake of fire, Like a bright avenging angel fair Kapiolani came!