Le crédo du paysan [English translation]

The vast expanses, the skies, peaks and plains,

the sun spreading warm daylight,

green fir trees covering the mountain

are all Your work, O divine Maker!

As a lowly mortal facing the sublime work,

as the sun goes down on the horizon,

my feeble voice raises from the abyss

towards You, towards You, God almighty.

I believe in You, O Master of Nature,

who sows life and fertility all around.

God Almighty who created man,

I trust in Your greatness, in Your kindness.

When the time is right, I throw by the handful

In the furrows dug by the plough

the clean wheat that will grow thick stalks:

ears are soon to come out of this seed.

And should hail or storm fall

upon my harvest like a plague,

I won't turn my back to heavens1,

but raise my head and beseech the Most High.

1. this poetic French uses a kind of ellipsis that I found hard to render. lit. "against the sky, far from bowing my head, my forehad turned [toward the sky], I bessech the Most High"