The scents that wake when the cool dusk begins

Lapped him luxuriously; the heavy sweet

Of passionate gardenia,—kiss made flower,—

45

White as his turbulent love, was as the crown

And climax of the jasmine stars that breathed

His love in placid day, and when he paused

Beside the pool, the forest held its breath.

"O sweet, O beautiful!" Malua cried,

His young eyes blazing to the tropic night.

"Never before, since all the gods were young,

Was woman loved as I love Taka." Then,

Caught in a very ecstasy of love,

He laid his arms about a slender tree,

White in the moonlight, and his fevered cheek

Pressed on its cooling stem. With broken music

Shaken from his breast, he cried on Taka,—

Little happy words that mothers whisper

46

Above their sleeping babes. "If love could find

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