My spirits are low –
My wits thus made slow,
My thoughts stormy as the monsoon,
Can’t be subdued ev’n by the moon
Which hangs in state up the cold sky –
Looks on earth, laughs and mocks my cry.

A truly calm moon!
Life is a buffoon;
Life is a jester that mocks man
Which man clings to as to a friend!
Great kings may frown at their jesters;
Yet, keep them to hide their slippers!

A man is so small –
Scarce a dot at all!
Yet, man carries in his small head
What cannot on this earth be laid.
It is life that laughs and mocks him;
Yet, mockery is man’s own whim!