Epitaph

Men, our brothers, who live afier us,
Do not harden your hearts against us,
For ifyou take pity on us poor wretches,
God will be more readily merciful toward you.
You see five or six of us hanging here:
As for our flesh, which we nourished all too well,
It has long since been devoured or has rotted,
And we, the bones, are beconming ashes and dust.
Let no one laugh at our misfortune,
But pray God that He may absolve all of us!

If we call you brothers, you should not
Be contenmptuous, even though we were executed
By the law. Still you know
That not all men have firm conmmon sense;
Intercede for us-now that we are no more-
With the Son of the Virgin Mary,
That His grace may not run dry for us,
The rain has steaned and washed us,
And the sun has dried and blackened us;
Magpies, crows, have gouged out our eyes,
And pulled out our beards and eyebrows.
Never at any time are we at rest;
Now here, now there, as the wind changes,
lt moves us unceasingly at its pleasure;
The birds have pecked us more full of holes than a
thimble.
Thus do not be of our brotherhood,
But pray God that He may absolve all of us!

ENVOI

May Prince Jesus, Who is the master over all,
Keep Hell from having lordship over us:
Let us have nothing to do with and nothing to pay to
Hell.
Men, there is no raillery here,
But pray God that He may absolve all of us!