1. I weep for summer like one weeping for a ruin,
Though it passes swiftly like the blowing wind.

2. Winter has come and chilled with its bitter cold
What once was fresh and verdant, bent and inclined.

3. How often did I pluck its flowers or split them open
To savor fragrant hope and love intertwined.

4. The wealthy revel in it, but it visits not
The poor—marvel not that bounty can be unkind.

5. For all, its blessings are hoped for, its mercy known,
A soothing balm for bodies racked and undermined.

6. The whiteness of its blooms is like embroidery
On a cloak, or tears coursing down darkened cheeks lined.

7. Behold how it bows with modesty to Heaven,
White necklaces adorning green mantles designed.

8. The winds caress it lovingly with scented breath—
Would that I knew its sweetest kiss entwined!

9. In the cold and rain I sheltered a single one,
Shielding it from harm, though its face was inclined.

10. When at last it faded, I sang to it in mourning—
“God’s mercy! How quickly glory is declined!”

11. O Lord, deprive not my heart of all hope,
Nor the garden of bloom, nor the earth of rain.