1. Who will ward off worries from the distressed,
The helpless amid calamities and adversities?

2. The days have transformed him into endless sorrow,
From joy and the bounty of a lush life.

3. Thus amid the cruelty of fate he takes
No day with luck or gain.

4. A servant of wishes, which enslaved him
With broken promises, breach and lies.

5. Even friends shunned him, to the point
That any dear or close friend became poisonous.

6. The world preoccupied them, feeding on his wounds
With greed and enticement.

7. And I see their love like a mirage
That deceived thirsty people in barren plains.

8. Long have they wrinkled their cheeks and struck
The ground on days of revelry and riding.

9. Then they became residents of graves and dwellers
Of dust beneath erected biers.

10. Alas, the memory of others whom the fate
Of death took in their prime and old age!

11. They are gone from virtuous deeds and words,
Brothers present and absent.

12. After them I do not truly see the form of man,
Only despicable natures.

13. Accompany love with loyalty, and beware
Of hypocrisy, deception and falsehood.

14. How many generous souls see a promise as stinginess
Due to frequent giving.

15. They meet requests with a face
Unhardened by frowns.

16. So they quenched them like their generosity,
Or like my streaming tears of pouring rain.

17. Princes who led the blindness of an army
That leaves rocks behind it like hills.

18. They fill the sky with the risen dust of war,
And the earth with spilled blood.

19. And they shake all greenery like tremors
Of the past over its remnants and traces.

20. You see in their dead only wounds
Like the mouth of a lute lamenting.

21. A blow that has no equal among blows
Took his soul without torture.

22. Thus had he lived he would not have sought vengeance,
Nor counted his killing a sin.

23. Say to my life: you have overpowered me,
So do what you want with me.

24. And tear me as you please like a fool,
For I have the patience of a wise man for you.

25. Wondrous are the workings of time
That satisfied me through experience.

26. My friend, remove from me the wine cup,
For my soul has become sufficient company for me.

27. My hair turned white and my youth ended,
My critic slept and my watcher disappeared.

28. And I avoided the path of passion and folly,
Saying: "O soul, repent!"

29. And hands that urged me to drink
Were an expert hunter of hearts.

30. He approached us, so which staff
Then turned away from us, so which hill!

31. And he preyed on the bird of the Eden,
A thoroughbred steed bounding ahead.

32. So when he traveled, the land was pounded
After his tail whipped it.

33. A beast whose inebriation was increased
By the wine flask and repeated sips.

34. That is the one who seduced me,
The deceit of an alluring and gentle lady.

35. Her slapping and scolding when the whip was used
And the rider endured long roads.

36. If you see me, O evil one, lying down and
Tired of my returning and doctor.

37. I was the flower of gatherings in peace,
And a fortress for heroes in times of war.

38. At dawn I bid them farewell with a grinding millstone,
Like attacking troops of cavalry.

39. Everyday the wolf takes his fill of them
In outstretched necks like robes.

40. And I uncover tribulations with an opinion
From which truth is not concealed.

41. Mature, not hasty, and if enabled
In an opportunity, quick to pounce.

42. And I pardon those free of illness,
And quench my sword with the blood of the oppressor.

43. Yet here you see what became of me.
So if something afflicts you,

44. Turn to me or continue with crying and wailing.