Page:Mistral - Mirèio. A Provençal poem.djvu/41

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"And thou wert never at Li Santo¹² even!
Dear heart! The singing there must be like heaven.
'Tis there they bring the sick from all about
For healing; and the church is small, no doubt:
But, ah, what cries they lift! what vows they pay
To the great saints! We saw it one fête-day.

"It was the year of the great miracle.
My God, that was a sight! I mind it well.
A feeble boy, beautiful as Saint John,
Lay on the pavement, sadly calling on
The saints to give sight to his poor blind eyes,
And promising his pet lamb in sacrifice.

"'My little lamb, with budding horns!' he said,
'Dear saints!' How we all wept! Then from o'erhead
The blessed reliquaries¹³ came down slowly,
Above the throngèd people bending lowly,
And crying, 'Come, great saints, mighty and good!
Come, save!' The church was like a wind-swept wood.

"Then the godmother held the child aloft,
Who spread abroad his fingers pale and soft,
And passionately grasped the reliquaries
That held the bones of the three blessed Maries;
Just as a drowning man, who cannot swim,
Will clutch a plank that the sea heaves to him.