1. When instincts were created, they gathered harm
And does wisdom find what preserves integrity?

2. If only the youth were like dust, unharmed by injury
And like water in tumult, unperturbed by speech

3. If not for a life in my hands, I’d be like silent pens
Of a virtuous rain, rarely declining to write

4. The wind didn’t blow specks in ignorance
Nor did Jerusalem and its environs stagnate in wisdom

5. I saw the flaws of people, among them injustice
And no doubt in the justice of the one who created darkness

6. When I know things, it draws harm to me
For ignorance is that I seek knowledge

7. And I haven’t been pleased with the decree of fate
Even if my peace is not destined, without peace

8. May God forgive the one of pure intuition, awakened
Who sees my misery lowered and his calm heightened

9. So his meadow is my pasture, and wealth doesn’t please him
Nor is his dawn his sunset, or his night painful