1. If you plead for a need,
Then with bribery, for it is the path to success,

2. And do not rely on any other intercessor,
For all else besides bribery is just hot air,

3. People have a paradise in their end days,
And the paradise of this world is apricot juice,

4. O you who makes the land of Balkh equal to it,
Can wormwood ever equal sugar candy?