Deux gendarmes, un beau dimanche;
Chevauchaient le long du sentier;
L'un portait la sardine blanche,
L'autre le jaune baudrier.
Le premier dit d'un ton sonore,
Le temps est beau pour la saison. Brigadier, répondit Pandore, Brigadier vous avez raison.
Ah! c'est un métier difficile,
Garantir la propriété,
Protéger les champs et la ville
Du vol et de l'iniquité.
Pourtant l'épouse que j'adore
Repose seule à la maison. Brigadier, répondit Pandore, Brigadier vous avez raison.
La gloire, c'est une couronne
Faite de rose et de laurier;
J'ai servi Vénus et Bellone,
Je suis époux et brigadier;
Mais je poursuis ce météore
Qui vers Chalcos, guida Jason. Brigadier, répondit Pandore, Brigadier vous avez raison,
Je me souviens de ma jeimesse,
Le temps passé ne revient pas,
J'avais une folle maîtresse
Pleine de mérites et d'appas.
Mais le cœur, pourquoi, je l'ignore
Aime à changer la garnison. Brigadier, répondit Pandore, Brigadier vous avez raison.
Phébus au bout de sa carrière
Put encor les apercevoir;
Le brigadier de sa voix fière,
Réveillait les échos du soir: Je vois, dit-il, le soleil qui dore
Ces verts côteaux à l'horizon. Brigadier, répondit Pandore, Brigadier vous avez raison.
Puis ils cheminèrent en silence;
On n'entendit plus que le pas
Des chevaux marchant en cadence,
Le brigadier ne parlait pas;
Mais quand parût la pâle aurore,
On entendit un vague son; Brigadier, répondit Pandore, Brigadier vous avez raison.
BRIGADIER.
Two men-at-arms came riding slowly
Adown the green path, smooth and clear;
One held the rank of sergeant lowly,
The other that of brigadier.
The brigadier cried, "Brave Pandore,
The weather's fine—no signs of rain."
"Brigadier," laughing cried Pandore,
"Brigadier, right you are again!"
"It is no easy matter, surely,
To guard the peasant in his cot,
To hold the cities so securely
That thieves break in and plunder not;
And yet the wife whom I adore,
In safety dwells where Love doth reign."
"Brigadier," laughing cried Pandore,
"Brigadier, right you are again!"
"For Glory's wreath of fairest flowers
With rose and laurel intertwined;
For Love and War, immortal powers,
I live—and cast the rest behind.
The Power that Jason led of yore
I chase and trust the prize to gain."
"Brigadier," laughing cried Pandore,
"Brigadier, right you are again!"
"It brings bright days of youth before me;
That Past now gone beyond recall,
When Beauty flung her fetters o'er me,
I came submissive to her call.
And yet—the heart breaks o'er and o'er
The strongest links of Cupid's chain."
"Brigadier," laughing cried Pandore,
"Brigadier, right you are again."
As Phœbus hid his glories under
The golden clouds that veil the West,
Our hero with his voice of thunder
Still broke the evening's quiet rest. "Farewell!" he cried, "on distant shore
Your light will gild both hill and plain."
"Brigadier," laughing cried Pandore,
"Brigadier, right you are again!"
He ceased—and now their horses tramping
Fell softly on the yielding ground,
And save their iron bridles champing,
They passed along and made no sound;
But when Aurora smiled once more
One still might hear the faint refrain—
"Brigadier," laughing cried Pandore,
"Brigadier, right you are again!"
