Page:Iracéma, the honey-lips (1886).djvu/100
"It is his anxiety to fight the Tupinambá whicn guides the warrior՚s steps to the borders of the sea," said the Christian.
Iraçéma continued—
"His lip has dried towards his wife, as the sugarcane when the great suns burn; it then loses its sweet honey, and the withered leaves play never more in the wind. Now he only speaks to the sea-beach breeze, that it may carry back his voice to the Cabin of his Fathers."
"The voice of the White Warrior is only calling his brothers to defend the cabin of Iraçéma and the land of his son when the enemy shall come!"
The wife shook her head.
"When Coatyábo walks in the plains, his eyes avoid the fruit of the Genipapo, and seeks the white thorn; its fruit is savoury, but it has the colour of the Tabajáras. The thorn bears a white flower, like the cheeks of the pale virgin. If the birds sing, his ear no longer cares to listen to the sweet song of the Graúna, but he opens his soul to the cry of the Japim,[1] because it has golden feathers like the hair of her whom he loves."
"Sorrow dims the sight of Iraçéma and embitters her lip. But gladness will soon return to the wife՚s soul, as the green leaves bud again on the tree."
"When the White Warrior՚s son has left the bosom of Iraçéma she will die, like the Abaty[2] after it has yielded its fruit. Then he will have nothing to detain him in a foreign land."
"Thy voice burns, daughter of Araken, like the winds which blow in the great heat from the deserts of Ico.[3] Wouldst thou abandon thy husband?"
"Does the white warrior see that beautiful Jacarandá which rises to the clouds? At its feet still lies the