O brother men who after us remain, <br />Do not look coldly on the scene you view, <br />For if you pity wretchedness and pain, <br />God will the more incline to pity you. <br />You see us hang here, half a dozen who <br />Indulged the flesh in every liberty <br />Till it was pecked and rotted, as you see, <br />And these our bones to dust and ashes fall. <br />Let no one mock our sorry company, <br />But pray to God that He forgive us all. <br /> <br />If we have called you brothers, don’t disdain <br />The appellation, though alas it’s true <br />That not all men are equal as to brain, <br />And that our crimes and blunders were not few. <br />Commend us, now that we are dead, unto <br />The Virgin Mary’s son, in hopes that He <br />Will not be sparing of His clemency, <br />But save our souls, which Satan would enthrall. <br />We’re dead now, brothers; show your charity <br />And pray to God that He forgive us all. <br /> <br />We have been rinsed and laundered by the rain, <br />And by the sunlight dried and blackened too. <br />Magpie and crow have plucked our eyeballs twain <br />And cropped our eyebrows and the beards we grew. <br />Nor have we any rest at all, for to <br />And fro we sway at the wind’s fantasy, <br />Which has no object, yet would have us be <br />(Pitted like thimbles) at its beck and call. <br />Do not aspire to our fraternity, <br />But pray to God that He forgive us all. <br />Prince Jesus, we implore Your Majesty <br />To spare us Hell’s distress and obloquy; <br />We want no part of what may there befall. <br />And, mortal men, let’s have no mockery, <br />But pray to God that He forgive us all. <br /> <br />Translated by: Richard Wilbur<br /><br />François Villon<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/villon-s-epitaph-ballade-of-the-hanged-men/
