LA COMPLAINTE DE SAINT ALEXIS
(French)
Alexis tout aimable
Dès ses plus jeunes ans
Prince très charitable
Son père l' fit s' marier
Avec une noble princesse
Belle comme le jour
L'ornement de la Cour.
Le soir des épousailles
Alexis fut touché
Rentre à son cabinet
Dit adieu-t-à sa femme :
"Il faut que je m'en aille
Aux pays étrangers
Il faut que je m'en aille
Dieu me l'a commandé
Et tiens voilà bague
Ma ceinture à deux tours
Marque de nos amours."
Olympie toute en larmes
Dit à son bien-aimé :
"Auriez-vous le courage
De me laisser z-ici
Dans ce triste veuvage ?
Alexis mon époux
Pourquoi m'épousiez-vous
Mes pleurs et mes soupirs
Ils m'y feront mourir."
Alors il s'embarque
De Thrace en Cilicie
Le grand vent z-et l'orage
Le jeta près d'Ostie
Sur les bords du rivage
Arrive heureusement
À son débarquement.
Aux pauvres il a donné
Ses habits ses richesses
Jusqu'à son bel habit
Galonné de haut prix.
Alors il s'approche
Des valets des carriers
Des valets qui le cherchent
En chemin l'ont trouvé
Mais sans pouvoir le reconnaître
Tant il était changé
Lui ont fait la charité.
Au palais de son père
Il vint se présenter
Sans se faire reconnaître
Il demande à coucher
Dessous un escalier.
"Prince très charitable
Après avoir dîné
Les miettes de votre table
Faites-les moi donner
D'un amour agréable
Je prierai le Seigneur
De bénir vos grandeurs."
Dix-sept ans d' pénitence
Sous ce triste escalier
De jeûne et d'abstinence
Son corps fut mortifié
Les valets et servantes
Crachaient, jetaient sur lui
Les ordures du logis.
Le dévot d'Alexis
Revient prendre l'esprit
Revient prendre l'esprit
Dedans notre logis.
Le pape débonnaire
Au palais est allé
Dans ses mains prend l'écrit
À haute voix la lit
Sa mère de souffrance
Elle pense à mourir
Quand elle eut vu son fils.
Tout le monde regrette
Le dévot d'Alexis
Dévotions parfaites
Viennent de tous pays
Viennent de tous pays
Invoquer Saint-Alexis.
Coirault : 8902 Saint Alexis II (8902).
RADdO : 04087. | SAINT ALEXIS'S LAMENT
Alexis, very nice,
From his early age,
Very charitable prince,
His father had him married
To a noble princess
As beautiful as the day,
The jewel of the court.
On the wedding night
Alexis was (grace/God) striken,
He entered his study,
Bid (lit. told) his wife farewell:
"I have to go,
To foreign lands
I have to go,
God summons me,
And here is the ring,
My two rounds belt,
Pledge of our love."
Olympia, weeping,
Says to her beloved
"Would you have the courage
To leave me here
In this sad widowhood?
Alexis, my spouse
Why did you marry me?
My tears and my sighs
Will make me die."
Then he embarked/ took to the sea/sailed off
From Thrace to Cilicia
The strong wind and the storm
Threw him near Ostia.
On the sea side
He fortunately arrived
For his disembarkation.(1)
To the poor he gave
His clothes, his wealth
And even his high priced, beautiful habit/coat/jacket/costume????
Trimmed with braid.
Then he goes near
The servants, the quarry-workers.
Servants who were looking for him
Found him on their way
But without been able to recognize him
Because he had changed so much,
They gave him a handout.
At his father's palace
He came to appear
Without aknowledging who he was
He asks to sleep
Under a staircase.
"Very charitable prince,
After you've had dinner,
Have me given
The crumbs from your table.
I'll pray the Lord
To bless your greatness
With a pleasant love.
Seventeen years of penance
Under this sad staircase.
From fast and abstinence
His body was mortified.
The servants and the maids
Would spit and throw at him
The garbage of the house.
The devout Alexis
Comes to give up the ghost,(2)
Comes to give up the ghost
Within our dwelling.
The good-natured pope
Went to the palace.
In his hands, he takes the document/piece of writing
Reads it out loud.
His mother thought to die
From the pain
When she saw her son.
Everybody regrets
The devout Alexis.
Perfect devotions
Come from all countries
Come from all countries
To invoke Alexis.
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