Page:Mistral - Mirèio. A Provençal poem.djvu/80

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"And if one sell her robe of honor white,
Whether it be for gold or jewel bright,
And if one offer insult, or betray
A fond heart, unto such as these alway
The high court of the seven maids shall prove
The stern avenger of offended love.

"And if two lovers the same maid desire,
Or if two maids to the same lad aspire,
My council's duty it shall be to choose
Which loves the better, which the better sues,
And which is worthier of a happy fate.
Moreover, on my maidens there shall wait

"Seven sweet poets, who from time to time
Shall write the laws of love in lovely rhyme
Upon wild vine-leaves or the bark of trees;
And sometimes, in a stately chorus, these
Will sing the same, and then their couplets all
Like honey from the honey-comb will fall."

So, long ago, the whispering pines among,
Faneto de Gautèume⁸ may have sung,
When she the glory of her star-crowned head
On Roumanin and on the Alpines shed;
Or Countess Dio,⁹ of the passionate lays,
Who held her courts of love in the old days.