1. She asked her astrologer how long her cradled child
Would live, that she might take a coin for what he told.

2. "A hundred years," he answered, and he took the gold.
Death came that very hour and took the newborn child.

3. Time turns: the blushing bride seeks for her groom,
And offers all her precious gifts to win his heart.

4. When wives are chaste, their husbands will not start
Affairs, but cherish them in their seclusion's room.

5. The foolish sire looks down on his own daughters,
Yet sings his foreign son-in-law's deserving praise,

6. Though he's the family's most malicious foe.
A baby growing in its mother's womb betrays

7. Man's innate idiocy. He wastes his store
By betting on the claws and beaks of carrion crows.

8. A father beats his child for its own good,
Though this may seem a cruel and hard abuse.

9. To hide your white hair from your friends is ruse;
For age itself need not be gray or subdued.

10. Many who come to beg are filled up by your feast,
While some bring plenty, and they leave without a taste.

11. The blinding fog won't lift before the sun does rise;
Dark wings of night will not make way till morning's rays.

12. So beat your orphan well to teach it proper care,
For only tough love brings a lost sheep back to the fold.

13. Luck lifts up those cast down. The mighty lion's roar
Can cleave a mountain. But persistent bad luck takes its toll

14. On the wise man, till he can barely stand its weight.
Don't let your failings keep you from your Lord's estate.