1. I observe in the darkness what the night conceals,
And I read at dawn what God has decreed.

2. I review the days - my day that has passed
Is guide to my day that is yet to come.

3. So ask not of my fate and my fortune,
For we are but as the people of East and West.

4. Time has spanned thirty pilgrimages of my life,
And with them I traversed lands far and wide.

5. I travel westward pursuing livelihood, though it lies east,
And I swear, were I to travel east, it would lie west.

6. I flee a valley as if the hunters
Have sounded calls to the hunt - baying their hounds.

7. Though songbirds may trill their song for poets,
Crows of ill-omen circle above me, cawing.

8. If it be proven knowledge, what some have claimed -
That each person has a star, mine is a shooting star.

9. I ride in a carriage drawn by two steeds:
One sorrel and lean, the other grayish-white.

10. It has a tent whose ragged drapes
Appear dignified and appropriate.

11. My companions sit with me, and behind us
Are boxes containing what gladdens and pleases.

12. They hold wares of every kind, sold
By a noble youth - though selling ill suits his dignity - driven by the need to wander.

13. The carriage moves as though the land is a sea, with depths
And waves, and it a vessel

14. Appearing and disappearing in the mirages, so viewers
Think it is floating and sinking.

15. It enters the forest's depths at dawn,
So you would think the night follows the night.

16. Its wheels pass over the soundless valley,
And we hear the rocks moan and scrape.

17. It dances over the rocky protrusions -
We almost overturn because of its reckless swaying.

18. We spend nights in shacks abandoned by their dwellers,
Where owls weep and lament their loss.

19. Their walls and roofs are crumbling,
And the stars gaze at us through the holes as they set.

20. On them are markings - no brush has decorated them;
You would think them colored by algae.

21. The wind sings to us in them as though
Lulling us to sleep, while the cold dispels drowsiness.

22. We sleep with longing in our eyes for friends left behind,
And wake with burning embers of affection still aglow.

23. Our food is what we hunt, though often
We go hungry when prey eludes us.

24. At times we drink what the horses drink,
At others the horses disdain what we drink.

25. A life of hardship, but in its distance
From disgrace, it is wholesome and sweet to one with spirit.

26. We chance to meet some beauties along the way
Who delight us, while talented singers also please us.

27. Every land has a pasture for beauty,
And a playground of love for the eyes to frolic in.

28. No eyes of a lively girl will meet
The eyes of a youth except for Cupid's battleground.

29. Am I other than a poet whose heart
Passion has captured? I have no refuge from love's confinement.

30. My pride expelled me from the great cities,
So I delighted in wandering the provinces.

31. I socialize with those whose company would shame
Even monkeys - Darwin's theories would be refuted!

32. I listen perforce to every fool,
As though impressed with the mysteries of inanity.

33. I dislike what my companions love,
And crave what they spurn.

34. I fear highway robbers, and sometimes
Deliberately display arms to intimidate them.

35. A wanderer's honor is a pistol, just as
A lion's honor is fang and claw.

36. China's law gains no respect lacking arms,
And the weakest weapons are those of etiquette.

37. Were it not for the lion's fangs, it would be
Abase, shackled and ridden.

38. How many oppressors enslave people by force,
Wielding swords as their greatest argument?

39. I say to my soul whenever sorrow afflicts it,
And anguish wounds it: Patience, for in patience lies gain.

40. If bearing anxiety and suffering is hard,
Bearing people's scorn is undoubtedly harder.

41. Were it not for stubbornness ingrained in my nature,
One like me would not have come to the wilderness as refuge.

42. And were it not for my hope that you, my soul, will remain
Far from injustice, my feet would not have trod this path.

43. So reproach not my companions who ignored me
And disregarded my affairs, for they are closer to poverty than I.

44. Nor expect aid from any but my companions,
As hands may be dyed while the heart remains barren.

45. Do not anticipate sincerity from every smiling face,
For among the friendly lurks the deceitful pretender.

46. Even if all who feign devotion to me were truly devoted,
That would not satisfy you, O soul, in what you seek!

47. I have reproached people who discarded my affection,
Though every noble person has been betrayed by a companion.

48. They claimed I lampooned their beloved,
And that I will lampoon others when I compose poetry.

49. I am no lampooner... but passion -
When it leads a man - dims the light of discernment.

50. I view ostentation as shameful,
And that vile words in truth are foul ones.

51. I am but as time and its people -
I pardon, pretend, satisfy, and anger.

52. What lampoon is it if I say of a scorpion
Obsessed with evil, "You are a scorpion!"

53. O soul, none but you are responsible for yourself,
And know that any lightning other than your own goes astray.

54. You grow weary when you look to people for good,
While one who squeezes honey from thorns grows weary.