1. Patience for the turning of a time that defies arguments
It knew not the soundness of the path from the limp

2. It tends to the ignoble and ambushes the noble, yet fears not
Reproach with a heart free of tremors

3. Patience for its turning, patience - our journey is near to it
So let it scheme as it wishes against resolve

4. What ails it that it sees not the worth of one of noble traits
Open-handed, who raises destiny above low status

5. So O people of merit, be gentle, for your time
Knew not what silver white is from black alloy

6. Marvel not at the rise of the ignorant through it
And your decline pleased with it or compelled

7. For this is the scale of justice when it ruled
It weighs pure gold against base metals

8. I tested the people of my time and tried them, but found
No generous one, nor a helper in distress

9. Neither a lover of merit, nor trustworthy
Nor just, nor straight from crookedness

10. Nor mindful of praise when praised
Nor noble fearing censure wherever excoriated

11. For that I shunned most of them
And said "O crisis, intensify that you may recede"

12. For they strayed from the path of truth
So pardon, the crooked are blameless for their crookedness

13. Excess of merit is a flaw in their eyes
And plenty of wealth is the highest rank to them

14. So be intimate with the most just of them in speech and the truest
In affection, and open for him the door of love to enter

15. So vie not with the dogs over the world - for whoever
Vies with the dog over what it attained, it will growl

16. What pained me in my time was not the nearness of an absent one
Who pretended, nor pleased me one with a radiant appearance

17. Nor have I ever desired the love of the decadent, whenever it occurred
Nor did the caress of a soft cheek appeal to me

18. Nor did the tooth of a slender doe approaching
Weak, withdrawing with tangled and disheveled hair enchant me

19. That is not for my ignorance of beauty, but
Because I am amid the seas of worries in deep waters

20. O soul, patience - for the outcome of patience is good
The Beneficent must bring relief