MAUI VICTOR
No age-condemning works from quick brain throw,
They still have left what Time shall not efface,—
The legends of an isolated race.
Not vainly Maui strove; no, not in vain
He dared the old Mother of Death and her embrace:
That mankind might go free, he suffered pain—
And death he boldly dared, eternal life to gain.
They still have left what Time shall not efface,—
The legends of an isolated race.
Not vainly Maui strove; no, not in vain
He dared the old Mother of Death and her embrace:
That mankind might go free, he suffered pain—
And death he boldly dared, eternal life to gain.
Not death but dormancy the old womb has known,
New love shall quicken it, new life attain:
These legends old in ivory and stone
Shall live their recreated life again,—
Shall wake, like Galatea, to joy and pain,
Legends and myths and wonders; what are these
But glittering mines that long unworked have lain?
A Homer shall unlock with magic keys
Treasure for some antipodean Praxiteles!
New love shall quicken it, new life attain:
These legends old in ivory and stone
Shall live their recreated life again,—
Shall wake, like Galatea, to joy and pain,
Legends and myths and wonders; what are these
But glittering mines that long unworked have lain?
A Homer shall unlock with magic keys
Treasure for some antipodean Praxiteles!
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