Page:Mistral - Mirèio. A Provençal poem.djvu/85

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"Grow crimson as an autumn grape, because
Vincen's dear name so lightly uttered was.
There 's mystery here! Mirèio, we are jealous!
Lasted the picking long that day? Pray, tell us!
When two friends meet, the hour is winged with pleasure;
And, for a lover, one has always leisure!"

"Oh, fie!" Mirèio said. "Enough of joking!
Mind your work now, and be not so provoking!
You would make swear the very saints! But I
Promise you one and all, most faithfully,
I'll seek a convent while my years are tender,
Sooner than e'er my maiden heart surrender!"

Then brake the damsels into merry chorus:
"Have we not pretty Magali before us?
Who love and lovers held in such disdain
That, to escape their torment, she was fain
To Saint Blasi's in Arles away to hie,
And bury her sweet self from every eye."

"Come, Noro, you, whose voice is ever thrilling,
Who charm us all, sing now, if you are willing,
The song of Magali, the cunning fairy,
Who love had shunned by all devices airy.
A bird, a vine, a sunbeam she became,
Tet fell herself, love's victim all the same!