1. Tears aroused by memories of the house of translation,
Of times past when life was joyful and hopeful.

2. Now half of eighty years have elapsed,
And truth compels these tears in vain.

3. The melodies of the nation were sweet in songs,
Songs in which boys not numbers were found.

4. So the gazelles shunned it,
And gazelles left it to beasts.

5. When will its vestiges return, I asked,
And its eyes flowing with tears?

6. Its regions will remain in pairs and solitude
Wandering in gardens of didymus.

7. In it I have often sung, and spent nights
As if untouched by passing days.

8. The teens, with the blooming teen girls,
Were adorned with freshness and beauty.

9. And the gossip of the critic slept,
As did the mischief of the boatman.

10. None hunted them but Indians
Who courted them out of love.

11. From its gazelles came the derivation of gazelle,
And from their teeth the origin of ivory.

12. Dainty when sitting, sitting gently,
And elegant when rising, rising leisurely.

13. With passions like fires they were surrounded,
And with disliked things like shields they were surrounded.

14. They sipped the wine of pleasure in drafts
And quaffed the undiluted wine of intimacy.

15. You see its friendship and love in its nearness,
And the sun moves away when light approaches.

16. When it makes a promise, circumstances
Point to promises reversed in treachery.