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Messieurs, vous plaît-il d'ouïr
l'air du fameux La Palisse,
Il pourra vous réjouir
pourvu qu'il vous divertisse.
La Palisse eut peu de biens
pour soutenir sa naissance,
Mais il ne manqua de rien
tant qu'il fut dans l'abondance.
Il voyageait volontiers,
courant par tout le royaume,
Quand il était à Poitiers,
il n'était pas à Vendôme!
Il se plaisait en bateau
et, soit en paix soit en guerre,
Il allait toujours par eau
quand il n'allait pas par terre.
Il buvait tous les matins
du vin tiré de la tonne,
Pour manger chez les voisins
il s'y rendait en personne.
Il voulait aux bons repas
des mets exquis et forts tendres
Et faisait son mardi gras
toujours la veille des cendres.
Il brillait comme un soleil,
sa chevelure était blonde,
Il n'eût pas eu son pareil,
s'il eût été seul au monde.
Il eut des talents divers,
même on assure une chose:
Quand il écrivait en vers,
il n'écrivait pas en prose.
Il fut, à la vérité,
un danseur assez vulgaire,
Mais il n'eût pas mal chanté
s'il avait voulu se taire.
On raconte que jamais
il ne pouvait se résoudre
À charger ses pistolets
quand il n'avait pas de poudre.
Monsieur d'la Palisse est mort,
il est mort devant Pavie,
Un quart d'heure avant sa mort,
il était encore en vie.
Il fut par un triste sort
blessé d'une main cruelle,
On croit, puisqu'il en est mort,
que la plaie était mortelle.
Regretté de ses soldats,
il mourut digne d'envie,
Et le jour de son trépas
fut le dernier de sa vie.
Il mourut le vendredi,
le dernier jour de son âge,
S'il fût mort le samedi,
il eût vécu davantage.
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- Gentlemen, hear if you please
- the song of famous La Palisse,
- You may indeed enjoy it
- as long as you find it fun.
- La Palisse didn't have the means
- to pay for his own birth,
- But he did not lack anything
- once his riches were plenty.
- He was quite fond of travel,
- going all over the kingdom,
- When he was in Poitiers
- You would not find him in Vendôme!
- He enjoyed a boat ride
- and, whether in peace or in war,
- He would always go by water
- when he didn't go by land.
- He drank every morning
- some wine from a barrel,
- For eating at his neighbors
- he would always go in person.
- He preferred at good meals
- his dishes to be tasty and tender
- And always celebrated Shrove Tuesday
- on the eve of Ash Wednesday.
- He shone like a sun,
- his hair was blonde,
- He would have had no equals
- had he been the only one.
- He had diverse talents,
- some even claimed this:
- Whenever he wrote in verse,
- he did not write in prose.
- He was, to tell the truth
- a rather mediocre dancer,
- But he would not have sung so badly
- if he had chosen to shut up.
- They tell that he would never
- have taken the decision
- of loading his two pistols
- when he had no ammunition.
- Monsieur d'la Palisse is dead,
- he died before Pavia,
- A quarter hour before his death,
- he was still quite alive.
- He was by sorry fate
- wounded by a cruel hand
- Since he died of it, we fear
- that the wound was a mortal one.
- Lamented by his soldiers,
- his death is to be envied,
- And the day of his passing away
- was the last day of his life.
- He died on a Friday,
- the last day of his age,
- Had he died on the Saturday,
- he would have lived longer.
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