Prayer from Normandy

Our good Virgin Mary,

on our knees we implore you,

teach us how to pray,

to pray better, and we will pray.

Give us grass in the meadow,

and sun on the round apples,

our good Virgin Mary.

And you, the Holy Archangels,

Saint Nicholas and Saint Michael,

fill our barns with golden wheat,

and all our beehives with honey.

Disperse the many chickadees

in our trees that reach to the sky,

O you, the Holy Archangels.

Saint Joseph, in the white beard,

friend of beasts and people,

make it always be Sunday

for the rogues and the indigents.

Put fruit on every branch,

would we be too exacting,

Saint Joseph, in the white beard?

Lord, God of all things,

let your flowers grow

along the walls of the pink houses,

make the days and months better,

grant us many roses,

in our gardens and in our hearts,

O Lord, God of all things.