With joy travels pain
Intimately linked through the times,
Heavy storms, mild westwinds,
Uneasy anxieties, joyful festivals
Walk side by side.
 
   And where many a tear falls,
A rose also blooms;
Already blended, even before we ask,
For thrones and for hovels
Are the lots of pain and joy.
 
   Was it not thus in the old year?
Shall it end in the new?
Suns rise and sink,
Clouds depart and return once more,
And no wishing shall change things.
 
   May then He, who over us
Measures with an accurate scale,
Give everyone the sense for his joys,
Everyone the courage for his suffering,
In the new days.
 
   Give to everyone upon life's pathway
A friend at his side,
A contented spirit,
And for quiet goodness of the heart
The attendance of hope.