North or South! If only in a warm bosom
Flourishes a shrine to beauty and the muses
And a heaven abounding in gods!
Winter can at best kill poverty of mind:
The North adds power to power and radiance to radiance.
North or South! 
If there is only an ardent soul!

Town or country! Just not too confined the spaces,
A glimpse of the sky, some verdure of the trees
To provide shade under a burning sun.
It's not the "Where" to which bliss is tied;
Who has ever found happiness out of himself!
Town or country! 
The outside world is but dross!

Servant or master! Alas, kings are servants,
do command us, if you are more prudent!
If you are more prudent, do command us!
Yet no pride shall ridicule our self-confidence;
only a slave's mindset can indulde in someone else's whims!
Servant or master! 
But never a man's fool!

Poor or rich! Be it a peach or a plum,
Unequally we pick from the tree of life,
You are provided with the bough, for me the twig,
My meagre meal does not weigh less because of that;
It is the relish that sets the value.
Poor or rich! 
The happy ones are rich!
 
Pale or florid! Just on the pallid cheeks
Yearning and love, anger and worry,
Empathy and consolation to someone else's distress.
The spirit does not express itself in a florid complexion,
A different mirror sparkles in the bright sun,
Pale or florid! 
Just not a lifeless eye!

Young or old! Why worry about the years?
The mind is lively, the hair roguish,
My hair turns grey too soon as well.
Do hurry and dye your lustrous curly hair,
It is not a shame to have silver hair.
Young or old! 
But only cold in grave.   

Sleep or death! Welcome, twin brothers!
The day is done, you weigh the eyelids downward.
Dream is earth's happiness and need.
Too short a day! Too fast life dies away!
Why living so well and yet so fast?
Sleep or death! 
Bright shines the rising sun!