Classic Poem

( La Ballade des pendus )

O brother men who after us shall thrive,
Let not your hearts against us hardened be.
For all the pity unto us ye give
God will return in mercy unto ye;
We five or six here swinging from the tree,
Behold, and all our flesh, that once was fair,
Rotted, and eaten by the beaks that tear,
Whilst we the bones to dust and ash dissolve.
Let no man mock us, or the fate we bear;
But pray to God that He may us absolve.

O brothers, hear us and do not receive
Our lamentations in disdain, though we
Came here by justice; for all men that live
Are not born into good sense equally.
Make intercession for us, graciously,
With Him whose life the Virgin once did share,
That His grace comes to us as water clear,
Nor hell's destructions on our heads devolve;
Dead are we, and as dead men leave us here.
But pray to God that He may us absolve.

The rain has washed us as we'd been alive,
The sun has dried and blackened us ye see.
The pies and crows that all around us strive
Leave us of eyes and beard and eyebrows free.
Never from torment have we sanctuary,
Ever and always driven here and there,
At the winds' will, and every change of air.
More dented than the fruit that beaks revolve;
Men! gaze on us, be warned, and onward fare —
But pray to God that He may us absolve.

ENVOI

Prince Jesus, Lord of all, have us in care,
And keep from us the fires of hell that stare,
Lest those dread fires our fate and future solve.
O brothers, make no mock of what we are,
But pray to God that He may us absolve.