1. Time walks slowly for one who awaits a need
Moving heavily like a hesitant, frightened man

2. Until one would think it shackled and chained
And see it slower than a crippled lizard

3. And imagines that his awaited desire
Is in the constellation Lyra or Cygnus

4. And that what he hopes for is a mirage
And is farther than what he wishes tomorrow

5. So when the soul turns fearful in the morning
Of an outcome in the gloom or an assailant

6. The steeds of time and its camels bolt
Toward the violent, pitch-black time

7. As if it is carried on a lightning bolt
Or a storm or gale in tumult

8. And it becomes as short as can be when the youth
Is indulged by the world with friendliness

9. So he enjoys pleasures without disdain
And dreams without distress

10. Then the sweet life is the whim of a bird
And the long epoch but the bound of a lion

11. And when the youth wears sorrow and walks with it
It is as if he told time itself: “Sit still!”

12. So hours become months and moments
Centuries, and grief everlasting

13. And the morn or night of my brother sorrow
Renew themselves with unceasing worry

14. It has conquered people and humiliated them that people
Are ailing, ambitious, or avaricious

15. They made their wishes the measure of their time
Yet time is too great to be measured against a purpose

16. And I have killed in myself wishes and desires
So I overpowered it with my detachment and asceticism

17. He who complains of his heavy eyelids would not
If he had no eyes to begin with

18. If I expect anything to run out
I count it in what has passed and gone, even if it hasn’t

19. Whenever I saw kohl in the eyes of delight
I glimpsed worms behind the lovely orbs

20. Why should one who does not laugh when dawn is joking
Become gloomy when dawn is not joking?

21. Two things are equal to me: dreams I see
And things my hands have grasped

22. I am in time like a wave in the roaring sea
In it, whether it increases or not

23. However tumultuous, it will not drown me
Or take me out of it or dissipate me

24. Alas! I neither hope for nor fear tomorrow
Shall I wish and fear what does not exist?

25. And yesterday - how could I think it ended
When I saw the origin in the fresh branch?

26. Past is like future, an imaginary state
Yesterday I was my day, today I am my tomorrow