1. Is this vision I see before me real or a mirage
Or is it one of time's tricks playing out within me

2. The feast day now is not the same feast I once knew
Friends now departed, my circle broken

3. Where, oh where have all our friends gone
Wandering afar over the dunes and hills

4. The ladies dragged their trains in joyful company
Adorned for celebration, their accessories a-jingle

5. May he who brought us wine in former days be spared by God
To cheer men's hearts and banish their sorrows

6. And blessings on the father of our host in his grave
A man of dignity and high manners

7. His drinking parties were plain and pure
Now may God have mercy on his soul

8. Though gone, his face still fills my eyes, that noble youth
Gifted with wisdom and guidance his staff and stay

9. Many wise men know well, destruction will always
Be the fate of mortal man, no escape

10. Take comfort, my friend, in those we mourned before us
Laid to rest under mounds of earth

11. Have patience - truly the most successful of all affairs
Is that girded by steadfast endurance