Gastibelza by Victor Hugo

[MikeLigalig.com]

GASTIBELZA by Victor Hugo
     ("Gastibelza, l'homme à la carabine.")

     {XXII., March, 1837.}
     Gastibelza, with gun the measure beating,
                 Would often sing:
     "Has one o' ye with sweet Sabine been meeting,
                 As, gay, ye bring
     Your songs and steps which, by the music,
                 Are reconciledâ€"
     Oh! this chill wind across the mountain rushing
                 Will drive me wild!

     "You stare as though you hardly knew my ladyâ€"
                 Sabine's her name!
     Her dam inhabits yonder cavern shady,
                 A witch of shame,
     Who shrieks o' nights upon the Haunted Tower,
                 With horrors piledâ€"
     Oh! this chill wind, etc.

     "Sing on and leapâ€"enjoying all the favors
                 Good heaven sends;
     She, too, was youngâ€"her lips had peachy savors
                 With honey blends;
     Give to that hagâ€"not always oldâ€"a penny,
                 Though crime-defiledâ€"
     Oh! this chill wind, etc.

     "The queen beside her looked a wench uncomely,
                 When, near to-night,
     She proudly stalked a-past the maids so homely,
                 In bodice tight
     And collar old as reign of wicked Julian,
                 By fiend beguiledâ€"
     Oh! this chill wind, etc.

     "The king himself proclaimed her peerless beauty
                 Before the court,
     And held it were to win a kiss his duty
                 To give a fort,
     Or, more, to sign away all bright Dorado,
                 Tho' gold-plate tiledâ€"
     Oh! this chill wind, etc.

     "Love her? at least, I know I am most lonely
               Without her nigh;
     I'm but a hound to follow her, and only
               At her feet die.
     I'd gayly spend of toilsome years a dozenâ€"
               A felon styledâ€"
     Oh! this chill wind, etc.

     "One summer day when longâ€"so long? I'd missed her,
               She came anew,
     To play i' the fount alone but for her sister,
               And bared to view
     The finest, rosiest, most tempting ankle,
               Like that of childâ€"
     Oh! this chill wind, etc.

     "When I beheld her, Iâ€"a lowly shepherdâ€"
               Grew in my mind
     Till I was Caesarâ€"she that crownèd leopard
               He crouched behind,
     No Roman stern, but in her silken leashes
               A captive mildâ€"
     Oh! this chill wind, etc.

     "Yet dance and sing, tho' night be thickly falling;â€"
               In selfsame time
     Poor Sabine heard in ecstasy the calling,
               In winning rhyme,
     Of Saldane's earl so noble, ay, and wealthy,
               Name e'er reviledâ€"
     Oh! this chill wind, etc.

     "(Let me upon this bench be shortly resting,
               So weary, I!)
     That noble bore her smiling, unresisting,
               By yonder high
     And ragged road that snakes towards the summit
               Where crags are piledâ€"
     Oh! this chill wind, etc.

     "I saw her pass beside my lofty stationâ€"
               A glanceâ€"'twas all!
     And yet I loathe my daily honest ration,
               The air's turned gall!
     My soul's in chase, my body chafes to wanderâ€"
               My dagger's filedâ€"
     Oh! this chill wind may change, and o'er the mountain
               May drive me wild!"

     HENRY L. WILLIAMS

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