CANTO X.
CAMARGUE.
LISTEN to me, good people of Provence,
Countrymen one and all, from Arles to Vence,
From Valensolo even to Marseilles,
And, if the heat oppress you, come, I pray,
To Durancolo1 banks, and, lying low,
Hear the maid's tale, and weep the lover's woe!
The little boat, in Audreloun's control,
Parted the water silent as a sole,
The while the enamoured maiden whom I sing,
Herself on the great Rhone adventuring,
Beside the urchin sat, and scanned the wave
Intently, with a dreamy eye and grave,
Till the boy-boatman spake: "Now knewest thou ever,
Young lady, how immense is the Rhone river?
Betwixt Camargue and Crau might holden be
Right noble jousts! That is Camargue!" said he;
"That isle so vast it can discern, I deem,
All the seven mouths of the Arlesian stream."
