From du Chemin's Dixiesme livre contenant XXVI chansons, 1552. This edition is offered at original pitch for S.A.T.B. or transposed down a fourth for A.T.T.B.

Lyrics: Anon

Ce mai nous dit la verdure,
Et en leur chant ces oiseaux,
Que de chagrin n'ayons cure.
O Dieu, tant ces prés sont beaux!
Qu'aurions de plaisirs nouveaux,
Si ainsi que je souhaite
Je l'y tenaie seulette?
Du moins, toute découverte
De coucou et violette,
Elle aurait la cotte verte;
Et si en ce voyant nue
Criait, "Je suis morfondue",
Aussitôt serait couverte.

In May the greenery
And the birds in song tell us
To bear no sorrows.
O.m.g., these meadows are so beautiful!
What new pleasures would we have
If thus, as I wish,
I were to hold her there alone?
At least, unveiled
To the cuckoo and violet,
She would get the green gown*;
And if, being seen naked,
She'd cry out "I am freezing",
She'd be covered up soon enough.

*Dress stains resulting from fornication upon damp grass. An idiom common to both English and French folksong; not to be confused with Monica Lewinsky's blue dress.