1. My contemplations surge in wonder
How much wonder there is in life!

2. The most wondrous thing in troubled life
Struts about in the universe, untroubled

3. Time cannot be reformed of its corruptions
Except by surrendering it to decay

4. The secrets of this life are locked up
In earnest it is nonsense, and in play

5. I find happiness in sorrow
As I find misery in joy

6. And time toys with us through its events
While we plunge into it, full of doubt

7. Woe to people from laughter
That sleeps like weeping from distress

8. The sun rises then hides like sulk
But in darkness it did not disappear

9. And the nights do not fade into falling stars
Except the nights that began without falling stars

10. We get drunk for a while then sober for a time
With the wine of triumph and defeat

11. But what we sober from defeat
We squander amid clamor and din

12. We seek what we desire of life’s pleasures
Until we reap in the quest

13. So we bend, attaining no profit
Until we quicken our steps to the Shepherd

14. The sphere of this life is a graveyard
Lying under the debris of ruin

15. Winding the relics of existence playfully
Writing the people in the scrolls of books

16. Meeting the genius gape-mouthed
For the wise is like the ignorant

17. The philosopher’s philosophy is lost
As is the loss of arts and literature

18. And that love we always sing of
Is words that promise falsely

19. So too the beauty of youth in disdain
As is the majesty of old age in disdain

20. Contemplations spin in my mind
Hidden in verses and mysteries

21. I open my eyes and see no one
Nothing in the life of the world but grief

22. And some of this is seen without sin
And some of this walks in sin

23. I go to my goal without cause
And turn back without cause

24. Perplexed, my pleasure and in the salt
My sweet like my bitter

25. Alas! None in life are content
And all in life are in hardship