1. Who will bring me back the breeze of youth, the joy and romance?
Alas! The early days are gone, never to return.

2. The two beloved ones folded what I had unfolded,
And those with languid eyes disowned me.

3. Propriety has forbidden me their love and taught me manners,
So I do not weep for a phantom or mirage.

4. What business have I with the howling wilderness,
Or with dwellings that inspire fear and boredom?

5. When will the vigilant youth attain his quest,
If he lingers in the abode of mirth and love?

6. My occupation is with steeds and swaying saddles,
Not with youthful folly or graying hair.

7. I have no hope apart from generous deeds,
While my soul is tied to greed and hope.

8. My sin against horses is that I pass my life among them,
When the lion walks among them with a swaying gait.

9. And I have floods of horsemen whose torrents
Are driven by heroes with cunning and skill.

10. How many rough, coarse hillsides has it made smooth,
Colliding with death in bared tusks!

11. And how many waves has it stirred up, above and below,
With blows and stabs amid the white swords and brown spears!

12. Ask the locust about me on the day I carry it
Whether I missed a hero or avoided a hero.

13. Whether my racing steeds outstripped the rest toward the goals,
Or whether I shrank from anything but a worn bridle strap.

14. Why do they seek to shed my blood with their sharp swords?
Am I not the first to help them in word and deed?

15. How can I attain the flowers of Khabaithan,
The vanguards of death with snarling jaws?

16. They want nothing but the instant from a roaring lion,
At night wrapped in glowing embers, eyelids darkened,

17. Who drinks no water but from the well of blood,
And has no neighbor dwelling near him in fear.

18. But for my leader and my duty to obey him,
I would have drunk a sweeter draught than honey.