1. The envious said it's not from us, not from us he repeated
God knows I don't desire to be like you, nor do I stoop low

2. O wretched thief gloating confidently over others' plunder
We came across oceans to find you, and what trials we saw

3. We thought you were wealth or inheritance, but found nothing but terrible disappointment
The pettiness that mocks all things petty, we grasped its essence and saw it firsthand

4. The arrogance that makes every arrogant soul laugh, the lowly became most low
The meanness that tastes and looks like crimes, we knew its flavor and color

5. If this is your art, then I'm innocent of what you claim is art
My people everywhere truth prevails are honorable, their name you sing

6. Where are you compared to them, you brood of shame, glutted on the oppressed
Where is your kindness, a mere fig leaf that counts harm as faith?

7. You spent your life scheming and preaching wickedly, thus wickedness you sought
Revel in it, for you most deserve disgrace, beyond it you'll find no comfort

8. As for me, I'm but the divinely inspired poet of love and beauty singing
My idealism embraced the universe and sang, transforming the universe into a new creation

9. Yes, and though it be an embryo, it prevailed in dreams, able and secure
Future generations will see it as a paradise in our time they yearn for

10. Do you think after this I care about the envious and their hatred?
Or fear your slander, O most wretched of creatures in feeling and mind?

11. You forgot your place, O wicked one, so you lost all nobility and weight
A poet who challenged the sublime with babbling, the babble of apes his art and ode