1. O my homeland, for which I have passionately yearned
I send you greetings and peace

2. Without you I would not exist nor would I smell
The scent of dawn or hear melodies

3. I would sacrifice myself for the homeland where I was raised
And frolicked there as a youth and a boy

4. It was but a garden filled with roses
That contained flowers and buds just beginning to bloom

5. In the mornings I would pick violets from it
And at night I would smell the fragrance of flowers

6. I was happy playing in your land as a youth
And suffered as an old man unable to stand

7. For you I was angry and in your satisfaction I bore
The blows of time that afflicted me

8. And I heard from evil-natured people
Words about myself that stung like arrows

9. For you, my homeland, which wearied me
Is a love that smolders in embers

10. As for desires, their flashes have ended
Except for a ray that does not dispel the darkness

11. One who is taught by events is wise
And meets misfortunes with steadfastness

12. Noble are those whose lineage is pure
When insulted by fools, they are generous

13. To snakes I pay no mind, even if
They leave their mark of pain within me

14. I will not accept humiliation, even if
I must make peace with it and be patient

15. Long live those who when disgraced
Take sticks to drive away disgrace

16. O carrier of swords, they cannot protect
A right, so why carry swords?

17. What is this equality they cry for?
When the lowly overtake the lofty

18. My people, your dreams are fruitless
Take realities and cast off dreams

19. I fear for you a deterioration in life
Where feet take the place of heads

20. Ignorant are those who depend on the past
For time changes laws

21. Most ignorant are those who
Broke their covenant and thought they dissolved it

22. And perhaps a snake charmer charms
What would be sins if closely examined

23. No one can build honest glory
Unless he first destroys what is false

24. Can one defy norms unless he is
Bold and does not fear blame?

25. If you succeed you praise yourself, heavens' gift
And if you fail, you blame the days

26. Life is illusion, and the sword of the brave
Dispels this without being dull

27. Many wars, their heroes disappear
Behind the curtain without stirring conflict

28. Condemn bigotry in debate, for it
Is a sickness that spreads to others

29. You are but a forgotten particle
In a spot in an endless universe

30. Whose motion is governed by laws
That have always been binding

31. The days complain of their captivity like you
So it is foolish to blame the days

32. In it are many suns, so who
First ignited their fires in the beginning?

33. Whoever takes imaginations as facts
Will find all facts to be imaginations

34. Or he has an illness that makes him doubt
So he rejects the judgment and does not understand

35. None deny obvious truth but one
Blinded, and worse is one who feigns blindness

36. And victory may well favor those
Who sheathed their swords and drew their pens

37. How many feathers in the hand of the finest
Have routed an armored army

38. The fox thought itself the lion of the thicket
Until it met the formidable hyena

39. Do not mock the fox for it is understandable
That it is not the roaring mighty lion

40. Nature made me an example
Which I took as guide in life

41. If ambition stirs me toward
What cannot be attained, I resist

42. The torrent either flows rapidly so it leaves
No oasis and covers the highlands

43. I write poetry emotionally moved by it
Though sometimes I doze while composing

44. The daughters of poetry smiled alluringly
But I weaned them, though they did not wish it

45. I regret the literature they want
To dress in a past age's ruins

46. Their clamor began to disturb me
Without debate being orderly

47. So I wished those arguing
Would make agreement on truth the conclusion

48. I love only a quiet place
As for crowds, I do not want crowds