Friday, August 10, 2018
Without Exception
François Villon (1431-?), Grant Testament 305-312 (stanza XXXIX; tr. Galway Kinnell, with his note):
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I know that the poor and the richSome woodcuts from La Danse macabre de Guy Marchant (1486):
The wise and the foolish, the priests and the laymen
The nobles, the serfs, the generous, the mean
Small and great, handsome and ugly
Ladies in upturned collars
No matter what their rank
Whether in kerchiefs or bourrelets
Death seizes them without exception.
311 bourrelets: A bourrelet was a sort of headdress indicative of a woman's station in life.
Je congnois que povres et riches
Sages et folz, prestres et laiz
Nobles, villains, larges et chiches
Petiz et grans et beaulx et laiz
Dames а rebrassez colletz
De quelconque condicion
Portans atours et bourreletz
Mort saisit sans exception.
