1. No matter how I contemplate life
And delve into its tremendous mysteries

2. And look around, I find naught
But doubts that perturb the mind

3. Until I grow perplexed, and gain
No insight from my perplexity

4. Yet I strive with all my soul
Though it be weary and forlorn

5. And spur it on, though it be frail
In the struggle against adversity

6. In an uncertain endeavor
Whose perils make one shudder

7. But if from its springs
It finds a draft to relish

8. It revives its being, and that
Suffices it, that it may repent

9. And he who slaked his thirst in
This life, ascended its summits

10. Or else the days have embarked him
On their miserable ship

11. And passed away, as eternity willed
With fiery passion in its being