1. For God knows which glances of passion I cast
At dawn, while the sun was still rising to its zenith

2. Toward a mountain peak, so arid it was as though
It were a stallion tethered and saddled for riding

3. So I rejoiced when first a small village appeared,
Where I had once lived for a time in my youth

4. I held back my tears for a moment and checked them
With my eyelids, before letting them flow freely

5. Like the trails left by rain on the cheeks of a hill,
The tears streamed down from my aching heart

6. Perhaps you too will shed sudden tears in grief
That swiftly dampen your shirt front

7. Woe to me! My long sojourn in this land was misery
I dreamed I lay on the ground and it came to haunt me

8. I rose and walked to a barren plain,
Beautifully decked out for traveling the wilderness

9. When I saw there was no hope of survival or
Promise of reason prevailing in that parched place

10. I pulled the reins right to turn my mount but the poor beast
Refused, till I hauled left and brought her around

11. I kept hauling till her wheezing broke the stillness of the waste,
Her withers chafing high on the saddle-pads

12. Onward young man! Trust God and wrest
From fate all you need to achieve your goal

13. Like a wolf stealing forth on the first night
To take the fish of the pools by stealthy surprise