Don't let your soul become a lazy being!
Lest you should try and then do anything in vain,
The soul, it must be always working hard
Both day and night, and night and day!
Exile it, so it move from one house to another,
And drag it from one stage onto the next,
Through barren lands and sea of forest rubble
And o'er the snowdrift and a hilly land.
Don't let it stay in bed, when seeing
New morning starlight shining through,
Just work it hard, like there is no tomorrow
And never let your reins come off it, even so.
But if you try and give it just a bit of leeway,
While freeing it from any labor, you must know
That it will tear your last shirt off, and dare I say it?
Without showing you much mercy, like a foe.
Just grab it by the shoulders, let me say it,
Then teach and torture it until world's end,
So that it live with you like it were human,
That it may learn to do so and amend.
Your soul's a slave and is a queen-like being,
She is a worker and your daughter all the way,
She must be working hard, and many labors seeing
Both day and night, and night and day!