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catamarinerHi. I wanted to sing the original French carol Picardy (AKA "Jésus-Christ s'habille en pauvre"), which is probably a 17th-century carol although its first publication was in an 1840s collection of old French traditional carols. But I could not find a complete translation of the rather ferocious lyrics, and I wanted to share the actual emotional heft of the hymn with English-speaking song circles, so... translation time (below the original):
[btw, the brackets that go |: your text here :| mean that we sing "your text here" twice before going on to the next line]
Picardy (the original French carol. The tune has travelled.)
|: Jésus-Christ s'habille en pauvre / L'aumône va demander :|
« Monsieur qu'êtes sur la porte / Faites-moi la charité. »
|: Ah! va-t'en coquin de pauvre, / Je n'ai rien à te donner. :|
« Des miettes de votre table / Je ferais bien mon dîner. »
|: « Les miettes de ma table / Je les garde pour mes chiens! :|
Mes chiens m'apportent des lièvres, / Toi, tu ne m'apportes rien. »
|: Dame qu'êtes à la fenêtre / Faites moi la charité. :|
« Entrez, entrez, mon bon pauvre, / Un bon repas trouverez. »
|: Quand le pauvre sort de table / Il demande à se coucher. :|
« Venez, venez, mon bon pauvre, / Un bon lit vous trouverez. »
|: En entrant dedans la chambre / Fit une grande clareté. :|
« Oh, dites-moi, mon bon pauvre, / C'est la lune qui vient briller? »
|: Oh non, ce n'est pas la lune, / Sont vos grandes charités; :|
« Votre très grand coeur, madame, / Qui partout s'est épanché. »
|: Dans trois jours vous serez morte; / En paradis vous irez :|
« Mais votre mari, madame, / En enfer ira brûler. »
Picardy scansion translation (except lines 1, 7 & 8) Heather L. Preston 12/21/2021
I left in lines 1, 7 and 8 from the Ehret/Evans version, as they were lovely, close to the original in meaning, and scanned already.
|: Jesus came in garment lowly / “Give to me thy charity” :|
"Sir, who stands so stately at the door / Give to me thy charity."
|: "Get ye gone ye poor poor rascal, / I have naught to give to thee." :|
"From your table crumbs remaining / would a dinner make for me."
|: "All the leavings from my table / my own dogs are bound to feed! :|
My dogs bring me hares to grace my table, / But you, you bring me naught that I need."
|: "Lady standing by the window / Give to me thy charity”. :|
"Come in from the cold, my poor one, / I will find a meal for thee. "
|: When the poor man leaves her table / He asks for a bed to sleep. :|
"Come along, my good poor fellow, / We a warming pallet keep. "
|: As he softly stepped o’er the threshold / The room was bathed in glorious light. :|
"Oh, tell me, my poor good fellow, / Is that but the moon so bright? "
|: "It is not the moon’s soft brilliance, / but the light of your charities" :|
“Your great heart, my blessed lady, / Which-now all who have eyes can see."
|: "In three days you were to have perished; / but to paradise you will go" :|
“Your husband lacks the light of human kindness, / and I fear he’ll burn below."
You can hear a fine version of the original here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvkLMEpusDE
