Epitaph In The Form Of A Ballade Poem by François Villon

Epitaph In The Form Of A Ballade

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Freres humains qui apres nous vivez,
N'ayez les coeurs contre nous endurcis ...
Men, brother men, that after us yet live,
Let not your hearts too hard against us be;
For if some pity of us poor men ye give,
The sooner God shall take of you pity.
Here are we five or six strung up, you see,
And here the flesh that all too well we fed
Bit by bit eaten and rotten, rent and shred,
And we the bones grow dust and ash withal;
Let no man laugh at us discomforted,
But pray to God that he forgive us all.
If we call on you, brothers, to forgive,


Ye should not hold our prayer in scorn, though we
Were slain by law; ye know that all alive
Have not wit always to walk righteously;
Make therefore intercession heartily
With him that of a virgin's womb was bred,
That his grace be not as a dr-y well-head
For us, nor let hell's thunder on us fall;
We are dead, let no man harry or vex us dead,
But pray to God that he forgive us all.


The rain has washed and laundered us all five,
And the sun dried and blackened; yea, perdie,
Ravens and pies with beaks that rend and rive
Have dug our eyes out, and plucked off for fee
Our beards and eyebrows; never we are free,
Not once, to rest; but here and there still sped,
Driven at its wild will by the wind's change led,
More pecked of birds than fruits on garden-wall;
Men, for God's love, let no gibe here be said,
But pray to God that he forgive us all.
Prince Jesus, that of all art lord and head,
Keep us, that hell be not our bitter bed;
We have nought to do in such a master's hall.
Be not ye therefore of our fellowhead,
But pray to God that he forgive us all.


Algernon Charles Swinburne, trans.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Susan Williams 18 March 2018

[Part One] François Villon, pseudonym of François de Montcorbier or François des Loges, one of the greatest French lyric poets. He was known for his life of criminal excess, spending much time in prison or in banishment from medieval Paris.

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Susan Williams 18 March 2018

[Part Two] Villon’s father died while he was still a child, and he was brought up by the canon Guillaume de Villon, chaplain of Saint-Benoît-le-Bétourné. the University of Paris records that Villon received the degree of bachelor and that of master.

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Susan Williams 18 March 2018

[Part Three] On June 5,1455, a violent quarrel broke out in the cloisters of Saint-Benoît among himself, some drinking companions, and a priest, Philippe Sermoise, whom Villon killed with a sword thrust.

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Oilibheir Álain Christie 19 November 2014

Frères Humains (c.1462) Frères humains qui après nous vivez
 N'ayez les cœurs contre nous endurcis, 
 Car, se pitié de nous pauvres avez, 
Dieu en aura plus tost de vous merciz.
 Vous nous voyez cy attachez cinq, six
 Quant de la chair, que trop avons nourrie, 
Elle est pieça devoree et pourrie, 
 Et nous les os, devenons cendre et pouldre.
 De nostre mal personne ne s'en rie: 
 Mais priez Dieu que tous nous vueille[nt] absouldre! 

 Se frères vous clamons, pas n'en devez
 Avoir desdain, quoy que fusmes occiz
 Par justice. Toutesfois, vous savez
 Que tous hommes n'ont pas bon sens rassiz; 
 Excusez nous, puis que sommes transis, 
Envers le filz de la Vierge Marie, 
Que sa grâce ne soit pour nous tarie, 
Nous préservant de l'infernale fouldre. 
Nous sommes mors, ame ne nous harie; 
 Mais priez Dieu que tous nous vueille absouldre! 

 La pluye nous a débuez et lavez, Et le soleil desséchez et noirciz: 
 Pies, corbeaulx nous ont les yeulx cavez 
Et arraché la barbe et les sourciz.
 Jamais nul temps nous ne sommes assis; 
Puis ça, puis la, comme le vent varie, 
 A son plaisir sans cesser nous charie, 
Plus becquetez d'oiseaulx que dez à couldre.
 Ne soyez donc de nostre confrarie; 
 Mais priez Dieu que tous nous vueille[nt] absouldre! 

Prince Jhesus, qui sur tous a maistrie, 
 Garde qu'Enfer n'ait de nous seigneurie: 
A luy n'avons que faire ne que souldre. 
Hommes, icy n'a point de mocquerie; 
 Mais priez Dieu que tous nous vueille[nt] absouldre. François Villon (1431-1465?) 
(Transcription: Lagarde et Michard) Pierre Levet 1489

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