1. A hope for which I strove to complete
Why then did fate unravel its perfection?

2. How long will time strive to undo
All I have built with utmost effort?

3. When a youth's fortunes decline
Misery stands before and behind him

4. The minister remains, delighting in eternity
So the lofty edifice endures through his constancy

5. Good fortune fills his gates, security his lands
Sustenance flows from his pens

6. The sun allotted by his hand, generosity in his division
Goodness in his shares, ferocity when roused,

7. Clemency when unaware, knowledge filling his words
Truth in his speech, justice in his acts

8. God as his protector, victory from his helpers
Fate his servant, his nature mastered

9. By its beauty, its blessings, and its serenity
The generous came first, and the minister followed

10. Trusting God in all his motions and stillness
Bestowing virtues their due, awake or dreaming

11. Why does my fortune retreat
Whenever I present it to my days?

12. Shall I be disgraced by days belonging
To one I hoped would grant me glory?

13. Far from me are leadership and mastery
And gifts I grew accustomed to receiving

14. O highest son, father of the lofty, brother of the sublime
The flowers of stars, none can match your stature

15. Should one like me complain of passion
And blame the age, while you rule it?

16. Where is the honor in fulfilling the rights
Of one whose reins are in your hands?

17. Scorn not the lowly, whose virtues
May rise above the virtues of others

18. Wretched is youth - no joy I drew from it
Only misery and darkness I knew

19. Why am I blamed for the age's sins
When I have no crime to answer for?

20. Sustenance is too base for me to waste
My days excusing myself before any but you