Everything on earth is trifle, trifle throughout!
'Tis naught, your palace was at great cost laid about;
'Tis naught, lavish dishes are set on your table;
'Tis naught, gold, silver are piled under your gable;
'Tis naught, your wife is fair and of noble descent;
'Tis naught, by your side many grandchildren attend;
'Tis naught, your villages and large hamlets abound;
'Tis naught, that crowds of servants follow you around;
'Tis naught, that no one is just as intelligent;
'Tis naught, that everybody finds you most pleasant;
'Tis naught, that happiness stays always at your door;
'Tis naught, you become an abbot or a prior;
'Tis naught, though the crown of pope, emperor you wear;
'Tis naught, Fortune raised you o'er Great and Little Bear;
'Tis naught, if you rule a thousand years in good grace,
For all these things will pass and rate no worthy place.
Only virtue and glory, which from virtue flows,
Endures eternally and eternally glows.
He who lives by it is content, though he has naught,
Who dies without it has nothing from the whole lot.

Translated by Michael J. Mikoś