1. Gray-haired before I reached fifty pilgrimages,
And it did not even come close to me, this is truly unjust.

2. Had forty been fair to me, it would have rebuked
The gray hair falsely coming from worry's side.

3. I knocked on its years, and if I were able,
I would have knocked on what my eyes have not seen of my bones.

4. They say, do not worry that the gray hair misguided you,
And their arrows at me fall short of them.

5. They said gray hair came with wisdom and experience,
So I said with what feeds and sweats from my flesh.

6. Wisdom that regresses to evil never pleased me,
What came before the gray hair sufficed me of wisdom.

7. If what gives me composure takes away my life,
Tell me, how can composure benefit me?

8. I tried my soul in the morning, dignified,
But it neither strengthened my weakness nor sealed my gaps.

9. Since it cleared in the morning, it repeats without illness
And desists without crime.

10. After gray hair, both are the same to my loved ones,
Whether they paused over it or paused over my remains.

11. I used to be one who witnessed war sometimes
And was pelted by spear tips as they pelted.

12. Until this gray hair parted from me,
And the people left me only to peace.