Page:Mistral - Mirèio. A Provençal poem.djvu/78

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"Or we would turn to lightning-scathed Ventour,⁶
Who, while the lesser heights before him cower,
His hoary head against the heaven raises,
As I have seen, in solitary places
Of beech and pine, with staff in agèd hand,
Some shepherd-chief, his flock o'erlooking, stand.

"Again, we 'd follow the great Rhone awhile,
Adown whose banks the cities brave defile,
And dip their lips and drink, with dance and song.
Stately is the Rhone's march, and very strong;
But even he must bend at Avignon
His haughty head to Notre Dame des Dom.⁷

"Or watch the ever-varying Durance,
Now like some fierce and ravenous goat advance
Devouring banks and bridges; now demure
As maid from rustic well who bears her ewer,
Spilling her scanty water as she dallies,
And every youth along her pathway rallies."

So spake her sweet Provencal majesty,
And rose with brimful apron, and put by
Her gathered treasure. Two more maids were there,
Twin sisters, the one dark, the other fair,—
Azaläis, Viòulano. The stronghold
Of Estoublon sheltered their parents old.