Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
France: Vols. IX–X. 1876–79. | | | | Provence | | Gathering the Cocoons | | Frédéric Mistral (1830–1914) |
| | (From Mirèio)
Translated by Harriet W. Preston
WHEN the crop is fair in the olive-yard, | |
| And the earthen jars are ready | |
| For the golden oil from the barrels poured, | |
| And the big cart rocks unsteady | |
| With its tower of gathered sheaves, and strains | 5 |
| And groans on its way through fields and lanes; | |
| |
| When brawny and bare as an old athlete | |
| Comes Bacchus the dance a-leading, | |
| And the laborers all, with juice-dyed feet, | |
| The vintage of Crau are treading, | 10 |
| And the good wine pours from the brimful presses, | |
| And the ruddy foam in the vats increases; | |
| |
| When under the leaves of the Spanish broom | |
| The clear silkworms are holden, | |
| An artist each, in a tiny loom, | 15 |
| Weaving a web all golden,— | |
| Fine, frail cells out of sunlight spun, | |
| Where they creep and sleep by the million,— | |
| |
| Glad is Provence on a day like that, | |
| ’T is the time of jest and laughter: | 20 |
| The Ferigoulet and the Baume Muscat | |
| They quaff, and they sing thereafter. | |
| And lads and lasses, their toils between, | |
| Dance to the tinkling tambourine. | | | | |
|
|
