1. A poem its author disliked
When you were cultivated at leisure, my friend

2. Time rushed it from its grooming
So it came, its back sore with exertion

3. Its shoulders weighed down
I did not shy from imposing it on you

4. Or mend its imperfections
For I know you don’t reproach

5. What I improve of my work
And one like me does not sleep amid flaws

6. In praising his praiseworthy patron
Much less so for one of famed repute

7. And choice virtues
Poetry is not valid if plagiarized

8. It is forbidden to praise any plagiarizer
So let the prince accept it again

9. Despite the burden of repeating it
And let the prince indulge his servant

10. Though it weigh with an unbearable weight