Poems (Hoffman)/The Cavern by the Sea
THE CAVERN BY THE SEA
(An authentic tradition.)
The tropical islands of TongaIn the Southern Pacific sea lieLike fragments of cool rainbow colorDropped down from the melting blue sky.
They are gardens of clustering palm treesOf creepers and tall waving fronds,Flowers, colored by sunshine and sea-breeze,Fruits, painted by tropical dawns.
In these beautiful islands of TongaDwelt a chieftain, young, stalwart and brave,Who dived like a fish in the oceanAnd rose with the foam on the wave.
One morning while swimming and divingHe ventured so deep by the shoreThat he rose in a wonderful cavernWhich had never been heard of before.
A cavern that no one could enterBut by diving deep down in the sea,And stalactiles hung from the centerAnd sides of its arched canopy.
No sunbeam illumined its arches,No moonbeam lay on its stone floor,Its pale pensive light was reflectedFrom the depths of its watery door.
Bright sea-shells and fragments of coralAnd seaweed in chaplet and sprayCast up by the waves' angry quarrelIn ledges and crevices lay.
The chieftain, transfixed in his wonder,Gazed long with his dark eager eyes,Like a warrior rejoiced o'er his plunderHe spoke to his wonderful prize.
"Thou art mine, O my beautiful palace!No other my secret shall know,My refuge from envy and malice,I tell not my friend or my foe;
For a secret revealed to a brotherThat hour is a secret no more,One wave whispers low to anotherAnd the surges speak loud on the shore."
There was silence once more in the cavernThen a splashing of sea-foam and waveAnd the daring young chief of the TongaRose up from his submarine cave.
Time passed and a ruler tyrannicReigned over the peaceful domain,So cruel was he that a panicSpread over the isles in his reign.
One chief planned a great insurrectionAnd well were his secret plans laidWhen the news spread in every directionThat the deeply laid scheme was betrayed.
And he who had planned insurrectionAnd all of his family with himWere sentenced to speedy destructionBy the dreadful, tyrannical king.
This chief had a beautiful daughterBetrothed to a chief of high rank, Like a great stone cast into the waterAt the dread news her happy heart sank.
The youth who discovered the cavernHad long loved the damsel in vain,So he brought her the news of her dangerWhich inspired him with hope once again.
He begged her to trust him to save her,Though his terrible peril he knewNaught but hope of their safety he gave herAs they fled in their little canoe.
On the way he described the lone cavern,The place of their hasty retreat,'Till he paused where the rocks towered above themAnd told her it lay at her feet.
With warcries the island resounded'Till the birds hushed their songs in affrightThen a yell as of victory sounded;Had the dread king discovered their flight?
Dim forms on the shore became clearer,Then the splashing of heavy canoesJust behind sounded nearer and nearer,They had not a moment to lose.
These women can swim like the mermaidsAnd dive like the fish in the sea;So the young chief sprang into the waterAnd cried to the maid: "Follow me."
Down, down through the shadowy water,With her hair streaming out on the tide,Sank the great chieftain's beautiful daughterWith the young island chief at her side.
A splashing of waves and then silence,By the gray rock an empty canoe;And they rose in the wonderful cavernThat none but the young chieftain knew.
It was fifty feet high at the centerAnd the widest part, fifty feet wide;What foeman could ever there enterTo harm the young maid or her guide?
And here the chief hid his brave lady'Till the angry king gave up the chaseIn the great cavern, silent and shady,Lit but by the sea and her face.
And here to her palace he carriedCostly clothing, food, mats and perfume,And none knew what treasure was buriedIn the great cavern's silence and gloom.
And here by his kindness and daringHis love to the maiden he provedAnd won for his bride the fair damselWhom long without hope he had wooed.
Meanwhile he prepared for a voyageWith all of his tribe to departFrom the land of a cruel oppressor,The islands still dear to his heart.
At last they embarked all in safetyUnknown to the treacherous king,He told them to wait in the shadowAnd his bride from the sea he would bring.
He dived at the foot of the bowlder,His wondering tribe waited amazed And half (each astonished beholder)Believed that the chieftain was crazed.
Alarmed at his long disappearanceHis people began to deplore,O, surely the young chief had perished!And they waited in fear by the shore.
A sound like the rushing of water,A sparkling of foam from the tideAnd the gallant young chief of the TongasRose up from the sea with his bride.
Her dark hair streamed over the water,Her eyes shone like stars in the blue;And the dead chieftain's beautiful daughterWas safe in her waiting canoe.
In a far distant kingdom they restedTill the cruel oppressor was dead,Then returned to their homes unmolestedWhere a better king reigned in his stead.
And long in their palm islands, shadyDwelt the chieftain, so noble and brave,With his tribe, and his beautiful ladyWhom he hid in the deep ocean cave.