Page:A New Zealand verse (1906).pdf/180
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144
The Noosing of the Sun-God.
All the heart of the heavens,
The heart of the earth,
Hung on the rope of Maui.
But the red lizards licked it,
The fire-knives chipped it.
It frittered and broke.
Then Maui stood forth
On the moaning headlands
And looked up to Io—
Io, the Nameless, the Father,
To whom the eyes pray,
But whom the tongue names not.
And a thin voice clave the fire
As the young moon cleaves the blue
Like a shark’s tooth in the heavens.
The heart of the earth,
Hung on the rope of Maui.
But the red lizards licked it,
The fire-knives chipped it.
It frittered and broke.
Then Maui stood forth
On the moaning headlands
And looked up to Io—
Io, the Nameless, the Father,
To whom the eyes pray,
But whom the tongue names not.
And a thin voice clave the fire
As the young moon cleaves the blue
Like a shark’s tooth in the heavens.
“O my son, my son, and why are thy hands so red?
Wilt fight the fire with fire, or bind the Eterne with deeds?
Shatter the strong with strength? Nay, like to unlike is wed:
What man goes to the river to smite a reed with reeds?
Wilt fight the fire with fire, or bind the Eterne with deeds?
Shatter the strong with strength? Nay, like to unlike is wed:
What man goes to the river to smite a reed with reeds?
“Soft and wan is water, yet it is stronger than fire:
Pale and poor is patience, yet it is stronger than pride.
Out of the uttermost weakness cometh the heart’s desire.
Thou shalt bind the Eternal with need and naught beside.
Pale and poor is patience, yet it is stronger than pride.
Out of the uttermost weakness cometh the heart’s desire.
Thou shalt bind the Eternal with need and naught beside.
“Plait thee a rope of rays; twist thee a cord of light;
Twine thee a tender thread that never was bought nor sold:
Twine thee a living thread of sorrow and ruth and right:
And were there twenty suns in Rangi the rope shall hold.”
Twine thee a tender thread that never was bought nor sold:
Twine thee a living thread of sorrow and ruth and right:
And were there twenty suns in Rangi the rope shall hold.”