by François Villon (1431 - 1463)
Translation © by Laura Stanfield Prichard

Ballade que Villon feit à la requeste de sa  mère pour prier Nostre‑Dame
 (Sung text for setting by C. Debussy)
 See original
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG
Dame du ciel, régente terrienne,	
Emperière des infernaux palus,
Recevez moi, votre humble chrétienne,	
Que comprise soie entre vos élus,	
Ce non obstant qu'oncques rien ne valus.	
Les biens de vous, ma Dame et ma Maîtresse,	
Sont trop plus grands que ne suis pécheresse,	
Sans lesquels biens âme ne peut mérir	
N'avoir les cieux. Je n'en suis menteresse.	
En cette foi je veux vivre et mourir.	

A votre Fils dites que je suis sienne;	
De lui soient mes péchés abolus;	
Pardonnez moi comme à l’Égyptienne,
Ou comme il fit au clerc Théophilus,
Lequel par vous fut quitte et absolus,	
Combien qu'il eût au diable fait promesse	
Préservez-moi que je n'accomplisse ce!	
Vierge portant, sans rompure encourir,
Le sacrement qu'on célèbre à la messe:
En cette foi je veux vivre et mourir.	

Femme je suis pauvrette et ancienne,	
Qui rien ne sais; oncques lettre ne lus.	
Au moutier vois dont suis paroissienne
Paradis peint, où sont harpes et luz,	
Et un enfer où damnés sont boullus:	
L'un me fait peur, l'autre joie et liesse.	
La joie avoir fais moi, haute Déesse,	
A qui pécheurs doivent tous recourir,	
Comblés de foi, sans feinte ne paresse:	
En cette foi je veux vivre et mourir.

Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1-3 of the original text.

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Text Authorship:

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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • ENG English (Laura Stanfield Prichard) , "Ballade that Villon wrote at the request of his mother [in order] to pray to Our Lady [Mary]", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 39
Word count: 247

Ballade that Villon wrote at the request of his mother [in order] to pray to Our Lady [Mary]
 (Sung text translation for setting by C. Debussy)
 See original
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
Lady of heaven, earthly regent,	
Empress of the infernal marshes,
Receive me, your humble Christian believer,
So I may be numbered among your elect,	
Notwithstanding that I sam worth nothing.	
Your good qualities, my Lady and my Mistress,	
Are far too great; I’m only a sinner,	
Without those good qualities, a soul can’t merit 
Nor attain heaven. I not a liar.	
In this faith I want to live and die.

Tell your Son that I am his;	
Through him may my sins be absolved;	
Pardon me, like the Egyptian woman,
Or as you did for the cleric Theophilus,
Who through you were acquitted and absolved,	
In spite of how many promises were made to the Devil.
Keep me from doing such a thing!	
O Virgin, carrying, without risk of rupture,
The sacrament which is celebrated at Mass:
In this faith I want to live and die.

I am a woman, poor and old,	
Who knows nothing; who never read a single letter.	
At the monastic church where I am a parishioner, I see
Paradise painted, where there are harps and lutes, 
And a Hell where the damned are boiled: 
One frightens me, the other causes joy and jubilation. 
Give me joy, lofty goddess, 
From whom sinners must all resort, 
Filled with faith, without feining or laziness:
In this faith I want to live and die.

Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1-3 of the original text.

Translator's note: The original poem concludes with a 7-line Envoi addressed to Mary, re-asserting the speaker’s faith.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2016 by Laura Stanfield Prichard, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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This text was added to the website: 2016-01-04
Line count: 30
Word count: 232