Once to them all other ingress
To the church was interdicted,
And by stealth they had to enter
In God’s holy house, like felons.
There, upon a lowly footstool,
Sat the poor Cagots, and pray’d there
All alone,—as though infected,
Sever’d from the congregation.
But the consecrated tapers
Of this century flare brightly,
And their lustre scares the evil
Shadows of the middle ages!
So outside remained Lascaro,
Whilst I the Cagot’s poor cottage
Enter’d, and my hand extended
Kindly to my suff’ring brother.
And I also kiss’d his infant,
Who, close-clinging to the bosom
Of his wife, suck’d greedily,
Looking like a sickly spider.
CAPUT XVI.
When thou see’st yon mountain summits
From a distance, they are gleaming
As though deck’d with gold and purple,
Proud and princely in the sunlight.
But when close at hand, this splendour
Vanishes, and, as in other
Earthly loveliness and glory,
’Tis the play of lights deceived thee.
What to thee seem’d gold and purple
Is, alas! but common snow,
Common snow, which, pale and wretched,
Lives a weary life and lonely.
Just above me heard I plainly
How the hapless snow was crackling,
To the heartless cold winds telling
All the tale of its white sorrows.