BALLAD by FRANCOIS VILLON

Ballad written by Villon at the request of
his mother as a prayer to Our Lady
Lady of heaven, regent of the earth,
empress of the infernal swamps,
receive me, your humble Christian woman,
that I be numbered among your elect,
notwithstanding that I was worth nothing.
Your good morals, my Lady and my Mistress,
are far too great though I am no sinner,
without such morals, no soul can deserve
nor gain the heavens. I am no liar.
In this faith I wish to live and die.

Tell your Son that I am his;
through him may my sins be abolished;
forgive me, like the Egyptian woman,
or as he did the clerk Theophilus,
who through you was acquitted and absolved,
however many promises he had made to the devil
keep me from ever doing such a thing!
Virgin bearing, without loss of virginity,
the sacrament which is celebrated at mass:
in this faith I wish to live and die.

Woman am I, poor and old,
who knows nothing; nor am I well read.
I see at the monastery, of which I am a parishioner,
Heaven painted, with harps and lutes,
and a hell where the damned are boiled:
the one brings me fright, the other joy and jubilation.
Grant me joy, high Goddess
to whom sinners must all have recourse,
fulfilled in faith, without insincerity or sloth:
in this faith I wish to live and die.

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