1. The fate of death swept them all away,
Demolishing that lofty home.

2. It destroyed them utterly,
Their righteous roots and branches.

3. I was patient for a while about them
As long as some remained to heal my pain.

4. But when my hopes were dashed
Their loss filled me with turmoil.

5. My heart weeps tears of blood
When I remember them.

6. So curb your anguish, o my soul,
And be forever inconsolable!

7. I chide you, yet excuse you now -
Bear calamities, but do not dread them.

8. When the trusted one is silent, who remains
To stir the hearts of those who hear?

9. And if adversity should strike, what poet
Can make his imagination still obey?

10. Master of rhetoric - though never at a loss
For eloquence, even when young.

11. His speech flows with the purest art and grace,
As flowers yearn to bloom.

12. He effortlessly unlocks what others barricade,
Vanquishing the most obstinate.

13. His poetry eclipses even the greatest poets -
None can equal him.

14. His writing fills the earth to overflowing,
Though his themes embrace eternity.

15. He makes seductive dancer-girls
Whom even the devout would gladly watch.

16. His ideas entrance the world of ideas,
His artful style enchants art itself.

17. He has surpassed the eminent masters
Who auctioned their wares in days gone by.

18. Forbidden fruit is free for his taking,
Appeasing his hunger and thirst.

19. But how can his glittering eminence
Be heightened or diminished?

20. Set your sights as high as nobleness allows,
Yet make the hearts your home, and there find peace.

21. My friend - the night has veiled you. I fear
Its darkness will not lift, but bring extinction.

22. That you, in whom we glory, will be no more,
And the second dawn will never rise.

23. I know you did no wrong,
Or fled from the battle in retreat.

24. A man almost lost to peril -
You spent your years escaping falls.

25. Not once did we hear you chatter nonsense
Or make a show of false airs.

26. Nor did malice, hatred's poison,
Flow bitter from your lips.

27. You speak sense, shedding light
That illuminates each shadowed place.

28. You mourn the days that die,
No misfortune ever makes you lose your wits.

29. Scorn to spend the night in fruitless hopes
Of what you cannot execution.

30. Grasping greed destroys what hands have earned.
Contentment gives a man true wealth.

31. Your virtues lent the world its beauty.
Yet they left you never restless.

32. How I regret the loss of your great soul!
Never shall your name be forgotten.

33. Why speak of one whose worth speaks for itself,
Whether told slow or fast?

34. Are not brave deeds their own reward,
Requiting those who do and those who tell?

35. Can lasting fame give immortality
To one who yearns to rest obscured?

36. Indeed, for me and my elegy of you,
A solid pillar in this valley's gorge,

37. I know the highest praise for one long dead
Is that his glory filled both far and near.

38. What fools we are! One transient dawn,
The rising sun shed rays on a slain eagle,

39. And in its fading gleam he shaped a dream,
A lifeless vision by its side.

40. But you have soared into the truth -
Leave us in shadow, joining the light above.