1. Death is a long sleep, with no wakening breeze,
And sleep is a brief death, whose awakening is hopes.

2. In stillness lurks anxiety, while the vigorous live;
In liveliness is solace, and the vigorous mend.

3. Their skulls differ in shape as shields differ;
Their passageways and ostriches have no blemishes.

4. A serpent that cannot hear voices in the dark
Would seem, from its description, to be deaf as an idol.

5. Do not let latter-day people deceive you into thinking
Our age is as theirs once was.

6. They pretend censure does not touch them,
Yet honor eludes the honorable among them.

7. Does your heart rejoice when rain spills from the clouds,
Or does anxiety overflow when aspirations ebb?

8. Do not let the temporary scent go to your head;
It has no track where it can leave its aroma.

9. If marvels did not show that our Creator
Is wisest and most discerning, we would say