1. I recalled what time had worn away and changed,
So I said to myself: The prime of your life has passed.

2. My sword broke in the struggle - how often
A sword breaks in the hand of the boldest hero.

3. After ambitions, I shook my hand contented.
How small is this world to me now, how paltry!

4. Between wealth and poverty I laugh weeping,
And weep laughing, while the owl takes its ease.

5. By your life, I never sold virtue for wealth,
So many goods that fade while the essence remains.

6. How many a wealthy man, his poverty is in his left hand,
And how many a poor man, generous in his virtues.

7. How many a miser whose wealth is like a trust,
So I see the wealthy, despite their greed, the poorest.

8. You are like that, O world, one who is drowning and thirsty,
So one in need suffers, and one in bounty is wasteful.

9. How many a virtuous man, his bread was too hard to gain stealthily,
While a fool desires and gambles and drinks himself insensible!

10. How many a woman with children, naked and shelterless,
Lives lest she lose a more precious honor.

11. How many a slave-girl in her trinkets and silks,
Pampered, walking on carpets and marble!

12. And a piece of bread is harder to gain by stealth
Than great riches - so be a more skillful thief!

13. For there is neither a blind fate nor a just Lord,
But a secret that has baffled our minds.

14. We excuse then our existence with death,
And are not evildoers merely to profit or win.

15. Were this universe created haphazardly,
For the world's composition is not of yellow metal.

16. Within us is constant struggle of good and evil,
And the thought of good continues losing from our weakness.

17. I have been plagued by vulgar men who wasted my talents,
So that some ignorant pretended not to see, some envious denied.

18. We are not companions in life - rather,
I have been afflicted by fetters between them, and misery made secret.

19. Were it not for my misfortune, I would not have won my wisdom,
For nothing was more precious to me, nothing harder.

20. Oh, how oblivion would be possible!
For I have embittered some whose life I made bitter.

21. I wish I could remember the sweetest I encountered, though I am
A stranger in passion and home - the most precious is the rarest.

22. Greetings to my nights of bliss and their goodness!
Those nights in nights of sorrow are remembered.

23. My heart drew from their fragrance and light.
In them, the sea breeze carried ambergris.

24. There, where the wave complains to the sand,
And the tear of passion is scattered, and the tear of dew sprayed.

25. I rejoiced in the throbbing songs of fervent love,
For which the soul rises up in adversity or grows great.

26. The belt of a streaming light chafed me,
Upon the cheek of a fawn - the loveliest thing to behold.

27. A day of mist in which our drink was sweetened,
And our promenade in the morning on the ruddy shore.

28. From it we ascended in the air by a ship,
Rising above the abyss to the mold of sugar.

29. It is the high mountain beneath which the sea,
Breaks waves on the green coast.

30. A cloud towering over it, the veil of its glory,
And the king's majesty surely veils or hides.

31. Sometimes the clouds cover it, and sometimes
Its smiling face appears, and its wrap is removed.

32. Towering defiantly, scowling its cheek
At a gang of dwarfs - it went astray and became arrogant.

33. How many startled or lofty glances from it to the youth,
When it overturned his heart and senses!

34. He sees the forest, markets, plain, and villages
Like forms as if the universe in his eye grew small.

35. And I yearn for every glory,
And every power, when I see the superior, mightier.

36. I love an evening that came spreading
Over the roseate horizon its darker mantle,

37. Slowly advancing, while my soul like a bird
Trills when it lost its nest and was disturbed.

38. In the blue dome above its darkness,
A crown of stars on its head intricately bound.

39. For the humble forest and valley beneath it,
A murmur, and the poetry about them falls short.

40. And I long for a dawn that appeared after languor,
As the brighter hope appeared to cheer our gloom.

41. It etches the veil of nightfall with lights,
And weeps over the flowers while the stars grow dim.

42. The living awake after their rest,
And what was folded of their beauties unfurls.

43. Each greets with an invigorated breath,
For the living are naught but dead buried in the gloom.

44. I sang the melody of one with glory and nobility.
Were it not for her love, my planet would not shine brighter.

45. My heart blossomed when her mouth blossomed,
At the gate of a garden, all its basil flowering.

46. When we met unexpectedly,
After two months had passed me in love, or more,

47. I bowed my head, and she returned my greeting,
And said, “Do you not fear my father, the victorious leader?”

48. “At every gate of our palace a guard
Who spreads secrets, or an awake sentry.”

49. “So visit stealthily in the shade and darkness,
And return hastily, for dawn quickly breaks.”

50. I said to her, “I do not fear the guards
Whose swords at the gate of this palace are brandished.

51. I love beauty veiled in majesty,
Guarded white between its people, or brown.”

52. “By a lady foremost among her people, by whom
A master is concerned - in her love he sees the slightest dangers greatest.”

53. “Had you not been mistress of your people, I would not have left
My heart troubled by passion, and my blood spilled.”

54. “I see fate obey my will,
When I visit my dear lady on the blond saddle.”