1. What delights you to the moon,
O you, the imprisoned bird!

2. Are you like me sleepless at night,
Complaining of your agony to the years?

3. Or do you complain of the injustice of mankind
In your suffering, broken heart?

4. A secret hidden in the darkness,
And barriers of the small cage

5. Have extinguished the light of hope
When you became a captive with it.

6. You were once free and unconstrained
In your pure, vast air,

7. Chirping your love songs merrily
To the fragrance of your flowers in spring,

8. And sheltering on a leafy branch.
Tell me, what delights you to the darkness?

9. While the flowers in it are dormant,
And all the people are asleep,

10. Even nature is resting,
Even my fervent heart I asked,

11. What does it see
In that dense forest,

12. And on the meadows and in the land,
And over there in the beautiful field,

13. Where the breeze is blowing?
I asked it, does that freshness remain

14. In the fields, and the water of those streams,
And the shapes of those hills,

15. And the flowers of those plateaus,
And the companions of my hours of torment,

16. The healers of my ardent heart,
Have they become tormented

17. Like me in my narrow prison,
Or are they still on the meadows?

18. I asked it about a bird
That in every night or morning

19. Over the passing breeze,
Carried food on its wing

20. And brought it to its little ones.
Those little ones, daisies,

21. Are like you, my fellow sufferer,
You, the fluttering captive,

22. Like the fluttering of my heart in the body.
The only difference is that I am a lover.

23. O bird! You, in pain,
Are a symbol for this purposeful one

24. Who cries and moans with melody,
And with a tear of grief,

25. While the heart of his oppressor is deaf.
So the birds of your nest sleep

26. Until the morning surprises them,
And they awaken singing and chirping.

27. O bird! Why do you wait
In the field, and it is a winter day?

28. Do I see you never impatient
Even if you have what you want?

29. And you love whoever liberates himself?
And when you see we have nothing left for us

30. Of your beautiful plumage, your wings,
Perhaps to remind us of song,

31. Perhaps we may weep for your singing,
And perhaps, and perhaps!

32. O bird! You are sincere,
While man is treacherous and lying.

33. So if you love, you are a lover
Who puts friendship in hearts,

34. While man is an unfair sinner.