1. Time passes its weeks, one after another
Continuous, endless is its duration

2. Our fortunes alternate between joy and sorrow
One day makes us weep, the next we mourn it

3. We mourn the past, yet from eras more
Our weeping flows, no end to its duration

4. We see our woes made immortal
While life itself fades, finite its number

5. Why no path to our redemption
In eternity, infinite its expanse?

6. The intoxication of youth is unpunished by
Old age, and ever-lasting its bounty

7. No good in a life which betrays us
Deceiving are its moments, prolonged its length

8. The youth is granted days, and must spend them
Payment is but his skin, to be taken

9. He who loans time, destroys it
His body pays all its debts

10. Until he is buried in a hollow
No family or children left for him

11. Worse yet, to be left without purpose
When a people have disappointed your loyalty

12. A king whom when my hands grew blackened
Made them white, by his hand

13. Whatever we missed of aid or bounty
With kings it can there be found

14. His harm is but unintentional
He seeks to do good, and relies on it

15. He never ceased to raise and benefit me
Until I envied by foes, their envy fuels me

16. His virtues said to his aspirant
"What a fine lad for fate to rely on"