Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
France: Vols. IX–X. 1876–79.
Carcassonne
By Gustave Nadaud (1820–1893)“H
I ’ve worked both hard and long,
Yet patient as my life has been,
One dearest sight I have not seen,—
It almost seems a wrong;
A dream I had when life was new.
Alas, our dreams! they come not true:
I thought to see fair Carcassonne,—
That lovely city,—Carcassonne!
Beyond the mountains blue,
Fain would I walk five weary leagues,—
I do not mind the road’s fatigues,—
Through morn and evening’s dew.
But bitter frosts would fall at night,
And on the grapes,—that yellow blight!
I could not go to Carcassonne,
I never went to Carcassonne.
As holidays at home!
The gentles ride in gay attire,
And in the sun each gilded spire
Shoots up like those of Rome!
The Bishop the procession leads,
The generals curb their prancing steeds.
Alas! I know not Carcassonne,—
Alas! I saw not Carcassonne!
And bids us to beware;
He says, ‘O, guard the weakest part,
And most the traitor in the heart
Against Ambition’s snare!’
Perhaps in autumn I can find
Two sunny days with gentle wind,
I then could go to Carcassonne,
I still could go to Carcassonne!
If this my wish offends!
One sees some hope, more high than he,
In age, as in his infancy,
To which his heart ascends!
My wife, my son, have seen Narbonne,
My grandson went to Perpignan;
But I have not seen Carcassonne,—
But I have not seen Carcassonne.”
Half dreaming in his chair;
I said, “My friend, come go with me
To-morrow; then thine eyes shall see
Those streets that seem so fair.”
That night there came for passing soul
The church-bell’s low and solemn toll.
He never saw gay Carcassonne.
Who has not known a Carcassonne?