1. Who gives me patience amid my tribulations
In the present, past and future alike

2. You created me a poet, if a king passed me
He'd shy from my gaze, wary of my attentions

3. Or a bird sang in the grove, drunk with joy
Or a yearning that saddened me with its sighs

4. Or the wind blew gently or in a gale
Or thunder rumbled and lightning flashed in the gloom

5. Or the sea roared and the waves raged
As the heavens scattered their blue stars

6. I'd feel the spirit in all its wonders
And reveal it as emotion in my verses

7. Whence comes patience when events without exception
Are made to trouble the calm of my hours

8. In the market, at home, in my sleep and
My waking, in revolt and repose and fancies

9. At home, in revels, in joys, in the meadows
Between gardens, even in my prayers

10. In all this I see the specter of misery
That follows me ceaselessly in all my times

11. And I vainly hoped for a day to live
With tranquil heart, but my fates denied me