1. My friend, why have the nights persistently turned
Towards me with events of misfortune?

2. And before I turned thirty, their alternation
Replaced their darkness with the whiteness of separation.

3. I do not blame fate for what has befallen me,
My manners were praised during adversities.

4. If I have not failed to match the youth in battle
With a speechless wielder of the deadly lance.

5. So my right hand is not humiliated in the necks of foes,
Nor have shoulders borne what my shoulders have borne.