1. You granted me titles of nobility, so call me by my name,
For titles do not lower the freeborn, nor do they define.

2. When the patina of newness on a sword wears down to nothing,
There's no difference between new and old in name or form.

3. Look upon this world with discerning eyes,
Perhaps you'll be content with the little your lot assigns.

4. For what is life but a fleeting, chance adventure
That passes like a gentle breeze's sigh?

5. Are we not like those who lived before us?
Ask of Decimus, where did he go? And of Tasimus?

6. Take from this life what perfects it,
For you will suffer drought, O herder of the branded sheep!

7. By my life! Happy is the man who sleeps content
With what he's apportioned of its flowing grace.

8. Some philosophized in maxims but never grasped
The essence of what little legacy time leaves behind.

9. If only they'd look within themselves, they could treat
The crux of every ill by decisively cutting it out.

10. So leave this world be, even if it draws close
With a welcoming smile and shining face.

11. Had man but tried the varying tempers of time,
He'd cleave to hopelessness, his soothing balm.

12. Who can advise me with wisdom true,
To climb the ranks of those who've won the prize?

13. Time's winds have relinquished me, leaving naught
But a spirit lingering in my frame.

14. "It's Mahmud," they say, "if only I were
As obedient to them as my name implies!"