MAUI’S FISH
....Oh, the swirl and the tumult! Oh, waves, like great ridges and gullies!
Like a bladder of kelp, rooted firm there below, like a kite of the waves,
The canoe jerks and staggers. Bale! Bale!
Bale!....All the fish must go out!
Ah, sweet food! Ah, the horrible tricks of this mischievous Maui!
Ah, the huge billows bursting....Bale! Bale!....
—Darkness, tumult and storm,
Thus all the night through, baled they and bellow’d they,
All the night through, Maui fought with his fish.
Toward the Dawn,
Lo, a Sea of thick shining! Behold the thick waves of great fishes!
This way and that way darting and shooting in masses,
Anxious, in haste to escape.
What is lifting them? Pull!
What is under them? Pull!....
The first beam strikes on the water....
The Brothers rub at their eyes....O pull!
Pull! What is this that they see?
Thro’ the waves, flashing!
To the light, flashing!
Bright, bright up-bursting, startling the light.—
Oh, the sharp spears and spikes! Oh, the sparkle of summits of crystal,
Springing up, up!
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