Page:Mistral - Mirèio. A Provençal poem.djvu/213

 CANTO X.

CAMARGUE.

ISTEN to me, good people of Provence, Countrymen one and all, from Arles to Vence, From Valensolo even to Marseilles, And, if the heat oppress you, come, I pray, To Durancolo$1$ banks, and, lying low, Hear the maid's tale, and weep the lover's woe!

The little boat, in Audreloun's control, Parted the water silent as a sole, The while the enamoured maiden whom I sing, Herself on the great Rhone adventuring, Beside the urchin sat, and scanned the wave Intently, with a dreamy eye and grave,

Till the boy-boatman spake: "Now knewest thou ever, Young lady, how immense is the Rhone river? Betwixt Camargue and Crau might holden be Right noble jousts! That is Camargue!" said he; "That isle so vast it can discern, I deem, All the seven mouths of the Arlesian stream."