Page:Mistral - Mirèio. A Provençal poem.djvu/196

 CANTO IX.

THE MUSTER.

LL sorrowfully droop the lotus-trees; And heart-sick to their hives withdraw the bees, Forgetful of the heath with savory sweet, And with milk-thistle. Water-lilies greet King-fishers blue that to the vivary hie, And "Have you seen Mirèio?" is their cry.

While Ramoun and his wife by the fireside Are sitting, lost in grief and swollen-eyed, And at their hearts the bitterness of death. "Doubtless," they said, "her reason wandereth. Oh, what a mad and wretched maid it is! Oh, what a heavy, cruel downfall this!

"Oh, dire disgrace! Our beauty and our hope So with the last of trampers to elope! Fled with a gypsy! And who shall discover The secret hole of this kidnapping lover, Where be the shameless one concealed hath?" And, as they spake, they knit their brows in wrath.