1. How long, O heart, will you not awaken,
You have been burdened with more than you can bear.

2. Your sorrow for their betrayal has weakened you,
And what can the wariness of the kind-hearted avail?

3. If they break their vow or change,
Then be calmly patient with them.

4. And determine to be gentle with them,
A determination that will free you after enslavement.

5. Do not cry over them if their homes are deserted,
And abandon them like the resolute man abandoning his tribe.

6. You will not lack replacements for them, nor
Will the earth be too narrow if you travel.

7. Leave them be, for people are not equal,
And a man will not find a friend in every land.

8. Your youth will replace them for you,
The graceful period of early manhood.

9. I clung to them when the robe of childhood
Clothed me, and my branch was balanced and elegant.

10. Until, when my heart was imbued with love for them,
Love flowed through my body like pure wine.

11. I seek substitutes for them, for indeed,
I have come to what does not befit one like me.

12. I chide them gently, conciliating,
Though beneath that chiding lies a tender heart,

13. That overlooks what they squandered. Indeed,
It deals with them as they dealt with it, gently.