Page:Mistral - Mirèio. A Provençal poem.djvu/101

] As for the goblet he was tendering, You would have said that no such fairy thing Was ever wrought by shepherd's knife or wit: A full-flowered poppy wreathed the rim of it; And in among the languid flowers there Two chamois browsed, and, these the handles were.

A little lower down were maidens three, And certes they were marvellous to see: Near by, beneath a tree, a shepherd-lad Slept, while on tiptoe stole the maidens glad, And sought to seal his lips, ere he should waken, With a grape-cluster from their basket taken.

Yet even now he smiles at their illusion, So that the foremost maid is all confusion. The odor of the goblet proved it new: The giver had not drunk therefrom; and you Had said, but for their woody coloring, The carven shapes were each a living thing.

Mirèio scanned the fair cup curiously. "A tempting offering thine, shepherd!" said she: But suddenly, "A finer one than this Hath my heart's lord! Shepherd, his love it is! Mine eyes close, his impassioned glances feeling: I falter with the rapture o'er me stealing!"