21.

She had no shoes, and dishevelled hair, she
Sat barefoot among the drooping reeds;
I, as I passed, thought I saw a fairy,
I said to her: Will you come out to the fields?

She looked at me with that supreme gaze
That beauty retains in its victories
And I said: Shall we, in these, Love’s own days,
Shall we go together into the deep trees?

She dried her feet on the bankside grasses;
She cast on me a second look, as she could,
And the playful beauty then became pensive.
Oh! how the birds sang deep in the wood!

How gently the water caressed the shoreside!
I saw come toward me, through tall green reeds, this
Beautiful girl, happy, startled, and wild,
Her hair in her eyes, laughing in the midst.

Mont.-l’Am., June 183..