The Ballade des pendus, also known as Epitaphe Villon or Frères humains, is the best-known poem by François Villon

François Villon

François Villon was a French poet, thief, and vagabond. He is perhaps best known for his Testaments and his Ballade des Pendus, written while in prison...

. It is commonly acknowledged, even if not clearly established, that Villon wrote it during his imprisonment awaiting his execution following the Ferrebouc affair, in which a pontifical notary was wounded in the course of a brawl. It was published posthumously in 1489 by Antoine Vérard

Antoine Vérard

Antoine Vérard was a late 15th and early 16th century French publisher, bookmaker and bookseller.-Life:The colophon of a 1485 edition of the Catholicon abbreviatum, the first French-Latin dictionary, which dates to 1485, indicates that Antoine Vérard was based at the heart of the bookselling and...

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Text of the ballad with English translation

The translation deliberately follows the original as closely as possible.

Frères humains, qui après nous vivez, N'ayez les coeurs contre nous endurcis, Car, si pitié de nous pauvres avez, Dieu en aura plus tôt de vous mercis. Vous nous voyez ci attachés, cinq, six: Quant à la chair, que trop avons nourrie, Elle est piéça dévorée et pourrie, Et nous, les os, devenons cendre et poudre. De notre mal personne ne s'en rie; Mais priez Dieu que tous nous veuille absoudre! Se frères vous clamons, pas n'en devez Avoir dédain, quoique fûmes occis Par justice. Toutefois, vous savez Que tous hommes n'ont pas bon sens rassis. Excusez-nous, puisque sommes transis, Envers le fils de la Vierge Marie, Que sa grâce ne soit pour nous tarie, Nous préservant de l'infernale foudre. Nous sommes morts, âme ne nous harie, Mais priez Dieu que tous nous veuille absoudre! La pluie nous a débués et lavés, Et le soleil desséchés et noircis. Pies, corbeaux nous ont les yeux cavés, Et arraché la barbe et les sourcils. Jamais nul temps nous ne sommes assis Puis çà, puis là, comme le vent varie, A son plaisir sans cesser nous charrie, Plus becquetés d'oiseaux que dés à coudre. Ne soyez donc de notre confrérie; Mais priez Dieu que tous nous veuille absoudre! Prince Jésus, qui sur tous a maistrie, Garde qu'Enfer n'ait de nous seigneurie: A lui n'ayons que faire ne que soudre. Hommes, ici n'a point de moquerie; Mais priez Dieu que tous nous veuille absoudre!

Human brothers who live after us, Do not have (your) hearts hardened against us, For, if you take pity on us poor (fellows), God will sooner have mercy on you. You see us tied here, five, six: As for the flesh, that we nourished too much, It has long since been eaten and rotten, And we, the bones, become ashes and powder. Of our pain let no one make fun, But pray God that he wills to absolve us all! If we call you brothers, you must not Have scorn for it, although we were killed By justice. Nevertheless you know That all men do not have (their) common sense (firmly) seated. Forgive us, since we have passed away, Before the son of the Virgin Mary, So that his grace Divine grace In Christian theology, grace is God’s gift of God’s self to humankind. It is understood by Christians to be a spontaneous gift from God to man - "generous, free and totally unexpected and undeserved" - that takes the form of divine favour, love and clemency. It is an attribute of God that is most...  may not run dry for us, Preserving us from the infernal Infernal Infernal may refer to:* pertaining to hell* Infernal , a Danish dance/club band* Infernal , a Swedish black metal band* Infernal , a 2005 novel by F...  wrath. We are dead, let no soul harry us, But pray God that he wills to absolve us all! Rain has drained and washed us And the sun has dried and blackened us; Magpies and crows have carved out our eyes, And torn off our beards and eyebrows. We never sit for a moment; Now here, then there, as the wind changes, (it) tosses us around to its pleasure, without cease More picked out by birds than thimble Thimble A thimble is a small hard pitted cup worn for protection on the finger that pushes the needle in sewing.The earliest known thimble was Roman and was found at Pompeii. Made of bronze, its creation has been dated to the 1st century AD... s. Therefore, do not be of our brotherhood, But pray God that he wills to absolve us all! Prince Jesus, who commands to all, Prevent Hell from having lordship over us: With him, we have nothing to do nor trade. Men, there is no mockery here, But pray God that he wills to absolve us all.