9v La Complainte d'outremeir

soon you will need nothing more than a small burial cloth
unless your stomachs have grown too fat.
And what will these wretched souls do?
They will go to the place I dare not mention.
God will be the judge of this affair.
So, great clerics, great prebenders—
you who are living large,
you who make a God of your fat bellies—
tell me by what means
you will take part in the Kingdom of God.
You who do not wish to recite a single psalm
in the psalter—so contrary are you —
outside of the one that has but 2 verses,
the one you say after dinner,
God wants you to go and avenge him
without concocting any more excuses.
Or, you should renounce the patrimony
that comes from the blood of the crucified one.
You are maintaining it poorly, I assure you.
If you serve God in the church
God serves you in other ways,
since he nourishes you in your house.
Logically, everything is even.
But if you love this abode
which is made for joy without end,
buy it! Because God is selling it.
For He needs committed
buyers, and those who do not make a deal right away
cheat themselves, for a time will come when they wish to have it,
and they will not be able to obtain it at any cost.
And you, tourneyers, what will you say
when you go the day of judgement?
Before God, how will you be able to respond?
For then, neither clergy nor laity
will be able to hide.
And God will show you his wounds.
If he asks you about the land
where he wished to suffer death on your behalf,
what will you say? I don't know.
The bravest among them will be so meek
that you could catch them with your bare hand.
And there will be no tomorrow,
because the end draws near
when death will close our mouths.
Alas, Antioch, Holy Land,
oh you have such a painful lament
since you have no more Godfrey.
The fire of devotion has gone cold
in each Christian heart;
no man, neither young nor old,
cares to fight for God.
Dominicans and Franciscans alike
could go to great lengths
and not find a single Angeliers,^{*a peer of charlemagne at the battle of Ronceveau cf. Galvez}
nor a Tancred nor a Baldwin.^{1add notes on these guys. see "Galvez subject of crusade."}
They would sooner leave the Bedouins
in charge of the Holy Land,
which was taken from us due to our neglect.
God has already seen it burned on one side,
and from the other, those from Tarsus,
the Khwarazmians and the Chananians,
will return to destroy everything.
Then there will be no one there to defend it.
If my lord Geoffrey is asking
for aid, let him seek someone who will render it,
for I do not see any other course.
For, the more I might sermonize,
the worse the situation would become.
This world is failing: he who will do good now
will then reap it after death.