1. You mock me when I strive, and play
And wonder at my state, yet yours more wondrous in every way

2. Long have I been like you, seeking glory,
Wealth and rank, struggling, hoping, pleading

3. Long have I avoided idleness, so I've tasted it
And found it sweet, and grown to love what I did flee

4. Life is only found in wealth and idleness,
So thanks to Him in whose grace I now take liberty

5. Content am I with my decline, glad for my unemployment
My heart is cheerful, my living blessed and free

6. Not from abundant wealth, but mere sufficiency
Enough sustains me, and contentment conquers all, you see

7. If you but tasted the sweetness of contentment,
Its radiance you would love, but from it you do flee

8. To you I leave honor and status in office,
Fearing it, from it keeping my distance, wary

9. On legs of steel stand tall! Roll up your sleeves!
Seek high office, spurn sleep, seek, request, implore!

10. Incline towards, wander to, judge and pretend,
Seek, endure, reject asceticism and plunder treasures

11. Many a soul will know what load it did hoist
On a day of grief, feared even by white-haired elders

12. From the treasure of contentment I’ve gained my goal
And forsaken greed, though the greedy remain deceived

13. I’ve been chaste with worldly goods and abandoned seeking them,
Leaving them to others, without complaint or bitterness

14. Oh you who blame me for leaving position and rank,
My leaving them has made them pursue me!

15. Such is the way of the world: when a lad leaves authority,
Authority and status themselves come chasing his heels

16. After freedom, would I return to servitude?
No! By my mother! Never! That I could not abide!

17. I've left behind my envious rivals as rank and office
Consume their worries and efforts night and day

18. My soul never was ignorant of the sweetness of prestige,
But saw safety and peace as life's most joyful way

19. I safeguard the lessons of dignity I was taught,
To honor in both worlds tirelessly applied

20. Unburdened, with shoulders at ease, owing no thanks
To a man steeped in sin though veiled and dignified

21. Called Chief Justice, but his rule is unjust transgression,
And this, by God, is truer than all that's testified

22. If I pleased slander, I would mention him by name openly,
But hints suffice - direct speech I do not espouse

23. Cloaked in hypocrisy and sanctimonious pretense
To wash away the blame his nature drives

24. Once starving, now rich lipids has he eaten,
Exposing the slick fox behind saintly guise

25. They say, you’re excessively aloof, while in fact,
They see a man who flees the stance of one despised

26. If I wished, I could best all men in greed and daring,
Pleasing myself, paining foes, stirring rage

27. Would I hoard ill-gotten wealth, sinfully gained,
Leaving it to heirs while to grave myself conveyed?

28. God grants heirs and mankind their provision -
So, begone! I crave no humans' aid for my needs!