1. Delay, delay upon the path of glory,
Confident in truth among the riders of men,

2. Ransoming the green branch in
Lebanon’s air and those shadows,

3. Or ransoming the flower whose fragrance is sweet
And ransoming the color on the slopes of hills,

4. Shall I be vexed at the spring, at
Its sweet streaming to the ears of nights?

5. Delay, delay ransoming art and thought
And taste and the aims of beauty,

6. Defending meadows of dignity, defending
A hope nurtured by imaginative fancy,

7. O generous heart, no voice from my hills
Has called you to the sacrifices of crimson,

8. No, nor has the branch hailed you, nor has
The spring been turbulent, nor have the heights refused.

9. Delay, like a flower plucked by the hand of the heedless
For its fragrance, uncaring.