1. My friend, I bid farewell to the prime of life
And there is no mending the fragment that remains

2. Did you not know that I took comfort in retirement
Fearing that servitude would wear me down

3. So call me not to write, for that is
The greed of one hopeful in the mind of the desperate

4. In it I compete with riffraff who compromised
For a whiff of smoke between consent and dissent

5. The pens denied them unaccustomed fingers
Whose tips were attuned to bargaining

6. If a party advanced them, betraying decorum
Can one fallen ever be raised by another fallen?

7. What young man with hands closed to evil
And open to good, patient and peaceable,

8. Seeking glory amidst the peril of war, a defender
Yet I closed my eyelid to the grit in life

9. And refused to gain high station through unworthy means
I say to one with lengthy strides, beware

10. And it is my way to advise a sincere companion
It is life, seek not the truth in it

11. And if you wish to be spared its harm, just play along.