1. I spent the night a stranger to my kind
Taking from me lesson and book

2. The master of wisdom crafts in my fingers
What my mind pours out

3. When I unleashed my conscience
It emptied what my heart had contained

4. When I loosed my hand's tongue
You were pleased by its sweet eloquence

5. Deformed in his creation, withered
Glorified in his deed, excellent

6. If he is not like steel in his mettle
Then in his deed he is steel

7. A man may debase him but he rises by him
And many a debased man, his glory casts him down

8. Since we have known the joy of knowledge
Neither the sweet nor the fresh delight us