Vendredi Saint

It is Good Friday, and I would like to share a piece by my favorite poet, Clement Marot. This is just a translation, but I'll include the original at the bottom for those of you who read French. My favorite part is when he says that "Death which our Saviour does quell" ("Ainsi la mort, qui le Sauveur oppresse"), which is ambiguous as it sounds. Is Death oppressing Him, or vice versa?

Maybe we find out in "three days".

Good Friday

Grief or joy, I have both unsurpassed
Grief when I ponder the somber day that passed
And see my Redeemer, hung on the cross
Or utmost joy, when by his blood-poured loss,
I am saved from my infernal fate at last.

Then I will laugh; no! Sorrow is my stance.
Sorrow? Yes, I say, with all jubilance!
In fact, I don't know which to hold fast:
Grief or joy.

Both are good, as God has taught us well;
And so Death which our Saviour does quell
Makes in our hearts both grief and joy descend.
Till our death, at last, renders us to dusty end,
And one or the other, will bid us farewell,
Grief or joy.

Du Vendredi Saint

Deuil ou plaisir me faut avoir sans cesse:
Deuil, quand je vois (ce jour plein de rudesse)
Mon Redempteur pour moi en la croix pendre;
Ou tout plaisir, quand pour son sang epandre
Je me vois hors de l'infernale presse.

Je rirai donc: non, je prendrai tristesse.
Tristesse? oui, dis-je, toute liesse.
Bref, je ne sais bonnement lequel prendre:
Deuil ou plaisir.

Tous deux sont bons, selon que Dieu nous dresse:
Ainsi la mort, qui le Sauveur oppresse,
Fait sur nos coeurs deuil et plaisir descendre:
Mais notre mort, qui enfin nous fait cendre,
Tant seulement l'un ou l'autre nous laisse,
Deuil ou plaisir.