1. My youth has lingered long, though longing
Makes me wish it would linger longer still.

2. Eyes sleep in comfort, while my own eyes pour
A flood of tears that knows no bound.

3. Would that he who gained youth might restore it!
Would that he who gifted us white hair had not!

4. Though I’m past sixty, when I peer
Into my looking glass I see the gaze of a fawn.

5. A pox on the house whose comforts never last!
A curse on the friend whose word is never kept!

6. With death’s venom plain to see in the cup of life,
How can one live with any shred of joy?

7. Between life and its opposite lies only a brief
Span, so the grave’s as near as the cradle.

8. Death has agents who come for every man,
So one who sleeps in high desert’s as one deep in a valley.

9. And since every person meets his destined hour,
Lord of the camels or a lead mare, it’s all the same.

10. If the soul did not shrink back in fear
From devastation, none would shun sweet life for ascetic ways.

11. Let past time go; be patient with Fate’s decree,
For nothing comes of grief for things beyond retrieve.

12. Seek not from another a guide, when God
Himself vouchsafes no guidance to men. Who then shall guide?