La tapisserie de sainte Geneviève et de Jeanne d'Arc
The Tapestry of Saint Genevieve and Joan of Arc
Charles Péguy
[The source OCR for this cahier is heavily corrupted, with only scattered stanzas readable. This is one of Péguy’s major poetic works, a long sequence of sonnets celebrating Saint Genevieve, patron saint of Paris, and Joan of Arc. The poems are written in Péguy’s characteristic repetitive, incantatory style.
The following fragments are among the few readable stanzas from the OCR.]
I
As she had kept sheep at Nanterre, She was set to keep a quite different flock, The most enormous horde where wolf and lamb Had ever mingled their common misery.
And as she kept watch every evening alone In the farmyard or on the water’s edge, From the foot of the same willow and the same birch She watches today over this monster of stone.
And when evening comes to close the day, She, the ancient and decrepit shepherdess, Gathering Paris and all its surroundings
Will lead with a firm step and a light hand For the last time into the last court The vastest flock to the right hand of the Father.
II
As she had kept sheep at Nanterre And they were satisfied with her exactness, They placed under her crook and her care The most restless flock, but the most willful.
And as she watched before the presbytery, In the evenings and evenings of a long habit, She watches today over this ingratitude, Over this enormous inn and this phalanstery.
And when the evening comes of all fullness, She, the wise and ancient shepherdess, Gathering Paris in her solicitude
Will lead with a firm step and a light hand Into the court of justice and of beatitude The wisest flock to the right hand of the Father.
[The full poem continues for many more sonnets, celebrating the parallel vocations of Genevieve and Joan, the spiritual guardianship of Paris, and the themes of faith, vigilance, and national destiny. The complete text is available via the Archive.org link above.]