Page:A New Zealand verse (1906).pdf/162
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126
Rona.
“Boil the moon!” she said in passion
“Boil your lazy head!
Hiding thus in idle fashion
In your starry bed!”
“Boil your lazy head!
Hiding thus in idle fashion
In your starry bed!”
Angry was the moon in heaven;
Down to earth she came:—
“Stay you ever unforgiven
For the word of shame!
Down to earth she came:—
“Stay you ever unforgiven
For the word of shame!
Up!—You made the moon a byword—
Up and dwell with me!”
Rona felt the drawing skyward,—
Seized a ngaio tree.
Up and dwell with me!”
Rona felt the drawing skyward,—
Seized a ngaio tree.
But from earth the ngaio parted
Like a bitten thread:
Like a comet, upward darted
Rona overhead.
Like a bitten thread:
Like a comet, upward darted
Rona overhead.
In the moon is Rona sitting,
Never to be free;
With the gourd she held in flitting,
And the ngaio tree.
Never to be free;
With the gourd she held in flitting,
And the ngaio tree.
Rona and the moon together
Wage unending strife:
Deep in the abysses nether
One had yielded life,
Wage unending strife:
Deep in the abysses nether
One had yielded life,
But for it, the Lake of Heaven,
Great Waiora cool;
Where they wash for evens seven
In the crystal pool.
Great Waiora cool;
Where they wash for evens seven
In the crystal pool.