1. The secret confidants of my heart - who are they for me to confide in?
The intimate whispers of my soul - who are they for me to befriend?

2. For a dire need, one drinks bitter aloes,
Yet abandons the purest honey though it is so sweet.

3. I persist in the struggles of my soul for that
Which I want, though they make me most wretched and tired.

4. Have you ever seen a hidden pearl, the rarest kind,
Found anywhere but in the sea by one who seeks it?

5. I turn my soul away from the nature of its existence,
When at daybreak appears that which I desire.

6. Just as God decreed laws before us
By what is closest to righteousness and purity,

7. And attributed to each being its own qualities,
He ascribed my true, refined qualities to me.

8. As water takes the color of its vessel
While its essence is sparkling white.

9. I have made the qualities of my soul
My life - and death derives from them.

10. I am not one who is cheered by blitheness,
Nor does what is in my conscience allow avoidance.

11. I want aloofness in private from that,
While in public I have family, ease and welcome.

12. For I have seen opinions burst into flame,
Though at first they were just a game.

13. The hoary beard has magic, though it is but hair,
Wondrous is that magic, and under it lies venom steeped.

14. The gleam of a sword is most beautiful to behold,
Though when the blades clash, it maims.

15. I make the soul's disgrace a pride for its people,
If through it they attain what fulfills them.

16. For a person may put his face in the dust,
Only to rise tomorrow as one who defiantly stings.

17. So disgrace leads to the most generous pride for a youth,
More than a pride followed by any portion of disgrace.

18. And how much food have I seen whose consequences were misguided,
While many a barren land later bore fruit.

19. No one tastes the pride of the soul who does not attain it,
Nor savors the spirit's bliss who does not strive for it.

20. Your roses are sweet water for the thirsty drinker,
Whose taste is purer and sweeter than honey.

21. In everything you see, there is variation -
Choose the singularly good, if the finest is not available to you.

22. Do not be content with jujube fruit, except out of necessity,
When the land offers you no other drink.

23. Nor make bitter water your staple,
For brackishness with heat is better and more nutritious.

24. So take from its coarseness what you can get and be content,
And do not be preoccupied with what defeats you.

25. You have no conditions with it - neither rejection nor acceptance,
Whether you attain your wish or not.

26. Do not despair of what may be had through stratagem,
Though the matter becomes distant and difficult.

27. Do not feel safe from darkness - for the stars rise,
Nor be deluded by the light - for the sun sets.

28. Be importunate, for women labor in obscurity,
If their goal is long delayed and escapes them.

29. Be abundant, and do not fail and tire, however much
You have acted, for the heavens' downpours are clouds and flow.

30. If only a person could thrive on worries alone,
And they became his nourishment, tried and true!